Depression and Black Men
By Akilah Wise, PhD
Depression among Black men is an unspoken pain that deeply affects the health and quality of life of Black people. In fact, the most current review of evidence on Black men and depression suggests a prevalence of 5% to 10%. This may seem low, but depression is commonly underdiagnosed. Even more, the failure to adequately recognize the roots of Black male depression is undermining our communities and keeping us blind to the deep harm of historical and structural racism.
Depressive moods and major depressive disorders are defined as the presence of a low mood, sadness, and reluctance to engage in activities for a long period of time, which makes life even more difficult. The physical and mental problems from depression seep into all areas of life, including home, work, friends, family, and community.
The contextual risk factors for depression are pretty well-known – income, poverty, employment, childhood trauma - but for Black men and women, these factors are rooted in the greater lived experience of being Black in the United States.
“A lot of our [Black people’s] depression comes from our situation as a people,” says Eric Bridges, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology at Clayton State University who studies depression among Black men.
Black people living in the United States are exposed to greater levels of factors that drive depression, like poverty and violence. According to the 2014 U.S. Census Bureau data, the poverty rate for Black men ages 18 to 64 years-old was 21%. Even more, Black youth are exposed to poverty and violence that sow the seeds for anxiety, depression, and PTSD in later life.
Compared to 22% of all US children, 38% of Black children live in poverty, according to the United States Census Bureau American Community Survey. While US children are exposed to high levels of violence, the rates of victimization and exposure to violence for Black children are exceedingly high. Black children are twice as likely to be sexually abused than white children.
In addition to trauma, Black men deal with a constellation of racism-related stressors, like discrimination, stereotypes, mass incarceration, and police brutality, that degrade their emotional and mental well-being to various degrees. When paired with ideals about masculinity that require men to remain “strong,” dealing with this harsh reality raises the risk of depression.
According to BlackDoctor.org, symptoms of depression that are commonly found in men include sleeping too much or too little, loss of focus, anger, substance abuse, sexual dysfunction, physical pain, and suicidal thoughts.
These symptoms can be damaging to families and communities – inability to process anger can lead to family dysfunction and intimate partner violence, for example. Calling out these behaviors as symptoms of depression can be complicated due to the power or privilege straight cisgender men hold over women, who are most likely to be impacted by such behaviors. Such symptoms like anger and substance abuse are largely normalized behaviors for men.
Many Black men may hold on to masculine ideals as a way to fight against emotional distress. For example, many Black men believe that gaining financial success, a masculine ideal, will relieve them of oppression. Yet, structural racism in the form of residential segregation, labor market discrimination, a lifetime of negative stereotyping and overcriminalization severely undermines Black men’s economic opportunities.
In 2015, Black men earned 31% less than white men, a gap that persists even when looking at those who are college educated – the earnings gap between college-educated Black and white men was 20% in 2014. And a recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics paints an even bleaker picture for Black men in the current labor market - the 6.8% unemployment rate for Black folks is mainly driven by Black men’s unemployment rate of 7%.
In this country, Black people have been stripped of our humanity, including the right to express the full range of human emotions. Historically, the enslaved were violently deterred from expressing emotional distress or mental illness. We must recognize that the dominant ideals of manhood that tell Black men not to be vulnerable are rooted in white patriarchy and oppression. Swallowing the pain of being dehumanized is depressing.
To be sure, Black women are more at risk of depression and contend with racism-related stressors and misogynoir stereotypes. Highlighting Black men’s mental well-being does not detract from the recognition of that pain, but in fact strengthens the need for all of us to divest from harmful masculine ideals.
We can reclaim our humanity by recognizing that being human is having emotions. Racial inequities wreak absolute havoc on our bodies and minds and ignoring it is killing us. But we can build healthier models that benefit our communities, promote healing, so that we can build happier and healthier communities.
Akilah Wise is a writer and postdoctoral research fellow at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, where she studies place-based correlates of HIV risk-related behaviors among people who inject drugs. She is also a member of the Diversity Scholars Network at the National Center for Institutional Diversity.