Black men and depression
- Thread starter marcvoi
- Start date
I totally agree that trauma is the cause of many cases of depression, but even people who've suffered from trauma depression can be triggered by the helter-skelter lifestyle of today's world. If you really think about it blacks during the 60s back to Jim Crow have suffered from way more trauma than today's blacks but due to our inability to properly deal with trauma (either spiritually, family structure, or even some good old fashioned sexual healing), we often exacerbate the situation by sweeping it under the rug and trying to remain cool, because as black men we were told to never lose our cool, no matter how fucked up our situations or else looks weak and vulnerable. For example, things like going through child support, getting laid off, or getting arrested are all traumatic events, that are often derived from the fast-paced, materialistic and shallow society that we live in.
I see where you’re coming from, but a lot of depression is derived from childhood experiences or trauma. That’s what I was getting to. This has been my observation in the classroom.
People are entering into adulthood with these experiences already imprinted in their minds. A woman that has daddy issues isn’t necessarily exacerbated by society, but a mere happenstance of coming from a fucked up situation.
People today are more mentally and emotionally in tune with their feelings versus back in the day when it was more stigmatized.
Hell, simply being born into a fucked up situation will lead to inevitable mental anguish that has little to do society.
However, society definitely plays a role back then and now. For different reasons. And one isn’t necessarily greater or less than the other when it comes to depression.
Not alone. But damn sure have to deal with it alone. Support can only go so far. The work still has to be done by the individual.
Depression that we are experiencing today is more of a social issue that is treated individually with psychology. For example, a man who is laid off from the job that he worked at for 15 years is soon after homeless due to his woman leaving him for not being a provider. Now in this dire situation, he may do what many down and out brothers have been forced to do for years, that is hook up with an ugly, usually fat chick with kids, whom he has no attraction towards. Basically, he is sacrificing his love life in order to stave off the possibility of homelessness, but with her daughter growing up, and developing into a woman he is sexually attracted to, his depression, and feeling like less of a man, may tempt him to fantasize or even molest that child and by doing so his traumatic experiences quickly spread towards the girl. And when she gets old enough to have children of her own, she has a higher probability of traumatizing her children either emotionally or also sexually, and the cycle continues.
I believe this is just one of many examples of how the socially transmitted disease of depression and anxiety is able to be passed on to others.
No man, watch the whole thing. You might be able to help someone...and it might help you at some point.
You’re making my point. Social issues isn’t anything new. Each human is a victim of trauma of some sort that may have been brought on by a previous generation of people.
The only different between today and hundred of year before is that medical science and understanding of mental health is more advance. As well as the capitalization of modern medicine.
Similar threads
