Black Mental Health

Hey guys, welcome back!

As mentioned in my Instagram post, I really enjoyed doing my uni assignment on the struggles black people go through when it comes to mental health. 

If you haven’t listened to my radio story, you definitely should! https://leicestershirepress.com/2025/03/03/listen-in-topic-of-mental-health-in-black-households-under-discussion/

Mental health is one of the topics I could actually talk about all day, so I thought why stop at just my assignment? Let me go into more detail and share my thoughts about mental health and how it tends to be dismissed and frowned upon within black communities.

How many of us can say that we’re actually able to talk freely to our parents about mental health? If you can, count yourself lucky because it’s genuinely a blessing. For those of you who can’t, I feel you.

Why is mental health stigmatised when it comes to black communities?

It’s definitely to do with culture and the fear of being judged within our own community. Why does it have to be a bad thing though? The notion that you’re seen as ‘weak’ for having mental health issues needs to be dropped ASAP!!! Because so many black people would actually benefit from having therapy (yeah I said it).

It’s as if they don’t believe mental health exists. A prime example of this is TikToker Asher Glean and his ADHD. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdeYfS66/

Asher’s very open when it comes to talking about his ADHD - he’s spoken about how his mother refused to get him the support he needed throughout his time at school. It was only until he was of age and took matters into his own hands, he was able to get medication for it.

His mum associated it with him being ‘foolish’ when in fact hyperactivity is one of the symptoms for ADHD; tying mental health issues with bad behaviour is a trait that’s common within the black community.

Why is it fair that he had to go through primary school, secondary school and college before he was able to get the help he needed? It’s not fair, is it?

Although the older generation may not understand mental health to the best of their abilities, they also don’t make the conscious decision to learn about it either. Having depression or anxiety can lead to loss of motivation, isolation, not wanting to interact or go out, but they confuse it with laziness or rudeness, when in reality that’s far from the case.

Because they refuse to acknowledge mental health issues, their children don’t exactly feel comfortable confiding in them in fear of being ridiculed or not taken seriously.

I feel like it’s not just families though, it’s also society. How many times have we all heard the term 'strong, independent black woman’? I love it, it’s empowering, but to an extent.

Society makes out that if we’re anything other than ‘strong’ and ‘independent’ we’re ‘weak’ which is seen as a sign of failure. No one offers help or a shoulder to cry on for the ‘strong, independent black woman’ do they? We’re expected to suck it up and paint a smile on our face 24/7.

But sometimes we don’t want to be ‘strong’ and ‘independent’ sometimes we want to be vulnerable and receive that help from others. 

Society makes us feel as if we have to be a-okay all the time, because when we do speak out we’re drawn out for being ‘emotional’ or ‘dramatic’.

We shouldn’t feel as if we have to be perfect all the time in order to keep up the persona of being a ‘strong, independent black woman’. Not that there’s anything wrong with being that, but it shouldn’t come with the pressure of having everything together all the time and feel reluctant to ask for help whilst struggling.

Again, it’s not just society’s fault. This pressure comes within - the black community themselves.

But honestly, ethnic minorities as a whole - because I’m aware it’s not just black people, (especially the older generation) need to do better when it comes to mental health. Because mental health is very much real and it’s something people genuinely struggle with. 

No matter your skin colour, your mental health matters! If you’re not able to speak to any family members, please reach out to friends! 

Thanks for much for reading y’all <3

Until next time!