In the process of empowering ourselves to take control of the narrative and practices around our own mental health and well-being, it is important to understand the historical context. Taking care of our spirits, nurturing our sense of self, and leaning on the power of the collective have always been integral parts of our wellness practice as Black women, since antiquity.
One way to further these discussions and understandings is to explore alternative treatment methods rooted in ancestral traditions from across the African diaspora. A rich tapestry of holistic practices dating back thousands of years offers an array of strategies, from herbal remedies and spiritual rituals to communal therapies and physical exercises. These practices have provided holistic approaches to mental health care and are relevant to the modern Black woman in her search for more comprehensive and culturally sensitive methods of healing.
For instance, the practice of Ubuntu, originating from Southern Africa, is a philosophy that promotes the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity. Ubuntu can be understood as the belief in the interconnectedness and interdependence of all individuals within a community. It emphasizes the idea that one’s humanity is defined through their relationships with others. The term “Ubuntu” is derived from the Zulu and Xhosa languages, and can be translated as “I am because we are” or “humanity toward others.” It encompasses values such as compassion, empathy, respect, and communalism.
The principles of Ubuntu can encourage open dialogue and community support as essential components for maintaining mental health. In African societies, mental health is often viewed holistically, encompassing not only the individual but also their relationships and community. Ubuntu promotes a sense of belonging and social connectedness, which are crucial for mental well-being.
By embracing Ubuntu, individuals are encouraged to engage in open dialogue and communication, fostering a supportive environment where they can express their thoughts, emotions, and challenges without fear of judgment or stigma. This open dialogue allows for the sharing of experiences, the validation of emotions, and the development of coping strategies. Ubuntu also emphasizes the importance of community support, where individuals come together to provide assistance, guidance, and encouragement to those in need.58
Furthermore, Ubuntu promotes a sense of collective responsibility for the well-being of others. This communal approach to mental health encourages individuals to actively support and care for one another, reducing feelings of isolation and promoting a sense of belonging. Ubuntu recognizes that mental health is not solely an individual concern, but a collective responsibility.
This collective ethos encourages open dialogue and community support as essential components for maintaining mental health. The principles of Ubuntu could be integrated into mental health practices by fostering supportive networks for Black women, spaces where they can express their struggles and find mutual understanding and healing.
Similarly, African tradition recognizes the healing power of storytelling, an ancient practice where life experiences are shared and wisdom is passed down through generations. Storytelling serves as a tool for providing instruction, building community, nurturing the spirit, and sustaining a unique culture. Likewise, African American storytelling serves a higher purpose than conveying information or responding to a question. Storytelling develops connections between people and ideas, serving as one of the most important traditions within both African and African American cultures. It connects African Americans through their shared culture, history, and ideals. By sharing stories of mental health discovery and practice in person, online, and in community spaces, the process of destigmatizing help-seeking can flourish.
Particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in online spaces dedicated to Black women sharing their stories of healing and taking care of their mental health. There are organizations that have made it much easier for Black women to get connected. For example, “Therapy for Black Girls,” founded by Joy Harden Bradford, PhD, compiles a useful directory of therapists, produces a podcast, publishes a weekly newsletter, and hosts a free weekly support group.
“Inclusive Therapists” provides therapists with racial trauma training to ensure health care providers look at mental health holistically. The organization has a directory of professionals, and many of them offer reduced-price virtual sessions. In addition, online support groups like Sista Afya’s free virtual conversations make sharing experiences easier and more accessible. Their group sessions focus on how to reclaim your time, create boundaries, and prioritize rest in a world that praises accomplishments.
Ethel’s Club, a Brooklyn-based wellness group, centers people of color and hosts virtual group healing and grieving sessions twice a month. And if you’re interested in using tarot and astrology in your mental health journey, “Dive in Well” has a variety of programs in addition to donation-based therapy classes and wellness-focused workshops. Finally, for an LGBTQ+ therapist of color, “LGBTQ Psychotherapists of Color” has a directory that also serves as a vital resource for the community.59 By integrating these practices of sharing communal space and storytelling into modern therapy, Black women can find healing in familiar experiences and lessons of their ancestors.
Another example of a beneficial traditional strategy is the use of indigenous healing practices. Indigenous healing systems rooted in African cultural traditions have been shown to be relevant to mental health in the African diaspora. These healing practices, which include rituals, ceremonies, and the use of herbal remedies, contribute to emotional well-being and healing.60 Indigenous healing systems are deeply connected to the cultural and social contexts of indigenous peoples, and they offer unique perspectives on resilience and mental health.
Resilience, as understood in indigenous perspectives, goes beyond individual traits and includes relational, ecocentric, and cosmocentric concepts of self and personhood. These concepts emphasize the interconnectedness of individuals with their communities and the natural world, highlighting the importance of social support and a sense of belonging for emotional well-being and healing. Indigenous healing practices also involve revisiting collective history to valorize collective identity, revitalizing language and culture as resources for narrative self-fashioning and healing, and renewing individual and collective agency through political activism and empowerment.61
Indigenous healing systems provide additional resources for coping with emotional distress and can be integrated into mental health care.62 These systems offer holistic approaches that address the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions of health. For example, in Ghana, indigenous healing focuses on the “whom” instead of the “what” way of healing, considering factors such as angry ancestors, evil spirits, or bewitchment as potential causes of illness. Indigenous healing practices also involve detailed history taking, physical examination, and divination to make diagnoses.63
The relevance of indigenous healing systems to mental health in the African diaspora has been supported by research. Studies have shown that seeking help from indigenous healers can have a positive role in the mental health functioning of individuals with less severe mental health problems. Indigenous healing practices may be protective against certain mental health problems, and their effects may depend on the severity of psychopathology for which help is sought. Openness to discussing indigenous healing practices in the context of Western counseling and psychotherapy facilitates cultural competence and can contribute to mental health promotion and policy.
However, it is important to note that the impact of indigenous healing practices on mental health outcomes should be examined further through treatment outcome studies. Comparative research would provide more definitive evidence of the role of indigenous healing practices in addressing mental health disparities.64 Collaboration between indigenous healing systems and Western biomedical health systems can be strengthened through accurate understandings of the different stakeholders involved.65
Additionally, ancestral healing practices like dance and drum therapies, common in many African societies, have been found to have therapeutic effects, facilitating emotional release and promoting well-being. The transmission of knowledge in South African traditional healing practices identifies drumming and dancing as one of the six disciplines of traditional healing, along with divination, herbs, control of ancestral spirits, the cult of foreign ndzawe spirits, and the training of new sangomas, who are traditional healers in South Africa.66 The sangomas’ healing rituals are considered incomplete without the use of drumming and dancing. These rituals involve the calling up of ancestral spirits through dance, music, and drumming, suggesting that these practices have a therapeutic role in traditional healing. Incorporating such ancestral practices into modern mental health care provides an integrative approach that not only treats the symptoms but also addresses the whole person—mind, body, and spirit.
Another supplement to traditional mental healthcare is the incorporation of self-recovery practices. Black women have historically engaged in self-recovery movements, recognizing the need to heal themselves from the effects of institutionalized racism, sexism, and capitalist oppression.67 These movements emphasize the importance of self-care, self-reflection, and self-empowerment as essential components of emotional well-being. By politicizing the self-recovery movement, Black women have reclaimed their agency and actively worked toward their own healing.68
Tricia Hersey founded the Nap Ministry in 2016, which is another well-known contemporary online community that reflects this movement. Her organization offers virtual or Atlanta-based guided sessions of “rest coaching” and “spiritual direction.”69 She urges followers to devote the time they might otherwise use for extra work to sleeping instead—the stretches they’d spend staring at a screen to staring into space. Tense moments given over to worrying about disappointing others would be better spent reflecting on their own needs and comforts.70
Additionally, the concept of racism-related stress and its impact on well-being is relevant to understanding the mental health experiences of Black women. Racism-related stress refers to the stressors and challenges that individuals of color face due to systemic racism and discrimination. This conceptualization takes into account the larger social and historical context and recognizes the mediating role of culture-based variables in the relationship between racism and well-being.71 Understanding and addressing racism-related stress is crucial for promoting the mental health and emotional well-being of Black women.
Incorporating these ancestral methods of mental health care is essential for the modern Black woman in her pursuit of holistic well-being. By embracing indigenous healing practices, engaging in self-recovery movements, and addressing racism-related stress, Black women can reclaim their cultural heritage, strengthen their resilience, and promote their emotional well-being. These practices provide a comprehensive and culturally sensitive approach to mental health care that acknowledges the unique experiences and needs of Black women.
In her quest for holistic mental health practices, the Black woman of today can find solace and strength in the wisdom of her ancestors and practices unique to the experience of Black women in America. By understanding the prevalence of mental health illness, recognizing the cultural uniqueness of her struggles, and drawing upon the wealth of ancestral knowledge and practices, she equips herself to walk a path toward healing. After all, in the words of Maya Angelou, “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”72
And with the words of the ancestor, we also have an obligation to pay that forward by encouraging the next generation to understand the importance of nurturing their mental health. The road to acceptance and understanding is a winding one, also connected to generational trauma and adopted norms to counter the cruel reality of racism in society.
For centuries, the experience of the African American community has been steeped in a potent brew of resilience, survival, and faith. Historical injustices, societal pressures, and cultural norms have shaped the complex relationship with mental health at the center of this story. The deep-rooted tendrils of Christianity frequently conceal an underlying mistrust toward mental health treatment as a result of this dynamic interaction.73
In the African American community, historical events have left indelible marks on the collective psyche. The repercussions of slavery, segregation, and systemic racism echo in the halls of memory, breathing life into narratives of mistrust and suspicion. Mental health institutions, once tools for oppression and misdiagnosis, have become symbolic edifices of fear and misunderstanding. As James Baldwin wrote, “People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them.” This history has cast long, oppressive shadows on the mental health landscape, engendering an atmosphere of mistrust.
Historical experiences of racism and discrimination have contributed to a deep-rooted mistrust among marginalized communities, including Black Americans, toward the healthcare system. This mistrust is often based on a history of medical exploitation, unethical research practices, and unequal treatment.74 Regarding the concept of cultural mistrust among African Americans and its impact on mental health service utilization, Whaley argues that cultural mistrust, rooted in historical experiences of racism and discrimination, can contribute to the underutilization of mental health services by African Americans. This suggests that historical factors, such as systemic racism, can shape individuals’ attitudes and behaviors toward healthcare.75
Overlaying this mistrust is the tapestry of Christianity, an enduring force in the African American community. Amidst the trials and tribulations, it has been a beacon of hope and a haven of solace. From the sorrowful plantation songs to the powerful sermons of Black churches, faith has carried African Americans through the raging tempests of injustice.
Yet, within this framework, the conventional understanding of mental health has been traditionally viewed through the prism of spirituality. Mental health issues, rather than being recognized as medical conditions, have often been relegated to the realms of spiritual warfare, tests of faith, or the consequences of moral failing. This perspective can unintentionally perpetuate the stigma associated with mental illness and discourage the pursuit of professional mental health care.
Given the centrality of the church in African American communities, it’s not uncommon to find those grappling with mental health issues seeking solace within the hallowed halls of faith before turning to mental health practitioners. To paraphrase W. E. B. Du Bois, the church in the African American community is not just an ecclesiastical institution but a social one as well, offering solace for the spirit and the mind.
This reality does not discredit the therapeutic value of faith-based support. However, it emphasizes the need to foster dialogue, weave mental health literacy into the communal narrative, and bridge the gap between faith and mental health care. Engaging church leaders in mental health advocacy, for instance, could help transform the church into a conduit for promoting mental health resources.
In addition to bridging the gap between the church and mental health literacy, there is also an urgent need to bridge the gap between our youth and mental health awareness. In the regal theater of life, youth is the first act of promise and potential. For Black youth, however, their debut to the world can become a haunting performance under the weight of systemic racism, cultural misunderstanding, and increasing mental health concerns. As the number of young lives interrupted by the tragic specter of suicide grows, addressing the mental health of Black youth ascends the staircase of urgency.
Young people constantly encounter reminders that they will experience discrimination based on the color of their skin at school, on social media, and in society at large. For Black youths, this burden is not just detrimental to their mental health—it is potentially deadly.
Black children (under thirteen) are almost twice as likely to die by suicide as their white peers, according to the US Surgeon General’s Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health in 2021.76 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that suicide rates for Black youths (ages ten to twenty-four) rose significantly from 2018 to 2021.77 Compounding the issue, Black Americans face barriers to care that make it harder to seek help, and the stigma of discussing mental health challenges adds an additional hurdle.
What can be done to halt and begin to reverse the harm that is being done? There is no simple, one-size-fits-all solution. A broad, coordinated approach is necessary. Practical strategies might include culturally sensitive mental health education in schools, bolstering the representation of Black mental health practitioners, and implementing mentorship programs. These strategies could serve as protective layers, softening the blow of life’s harsh realities and empowering Black youth to face their struggles with resilience and hope.
But in order to get started, it’s essential to understand the issues at play and our options for resolving them.
Black youths are at a higher risk for depression, anxiety, and other mental health struggles than their non-Black peers. The CDC reported that suicide is increasing at a faster rate for Black youths than it is for any other racial or ethnic group (36.6 percent from 2018 to 2021).78 High-profile suicides in the Black community this past year have drawn further attention to the issue.
These issues cannot be traced back to one specific source; racial discrimination, financial and institutional barriers to care, and police killings of Black Americans are just some of the many contributing factors.
Similarly, there is not one specific solution. Getting mental health care may seem like a good place to start, but Black youth are likely to encounter systemic barriers. Cost is often a prohibitive factor. Unfortunately, even those who can handle the cost may not have access. The United States is struggling with a shortage of therapists. And then it comes down to the quality of care provided: Most clinicians are white, which means that it is difficult for Black Americans to find culturally competent care. Speaking with a culturally sensitive therapist is often key when youth are healing from racial trauma.
But Black youths may never be encouraged to seek help in the first place; caregivers and educators often fail to recognize their struggles due to a lack of understanding of how mental health issues present in teens and young adults of different races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Black youths may demonstrate warning signs in different ways than other young people—ways that are often interpreted as behavioral problems rather than trauma, anxiety, or depression. As a result, a punitive approach is taken: Black youths exhibiting symptoms of mental health challenges are more likely to be suspended from school, expelled, or sent into the juvenile justice system.
Intersectionality—a lens that helps us understand the way multiple forms of inequality intersect and compound—also plays a role in mental health because our other identities may change how we experience the world. For example, Black youth who are also transgender or nonbinary face a higher risk of suicide than those with only one marginalized identity. This illustrates how the intersection of various identities presents new challenges for many youths, challenges that need to be considered when supporting large-scale reform.
