black men suffer in silence

black men suffer from depression and least likely to seek treatment. Why ?

article one

excerpt from this article

We call depression "the blues" in the black community. We're taught to shrug off this mental state. For many of us, it is not just a fact of life; it is a way of life. When bluesmen wail, "Every day I have the blues" or "It ain't nothing but the blues" or similar words from a thousand songs, they do more than mouth lyrics. They voice a cultural attitude. They state the accepted truth at the heart of their music: Having the blues goes along with being black in America.

http://www.enotalone.com/article/4745.html

article on suicide among blacks

excerpt: http://www.healthyplace.com/depression/minorities/suicide-among-blacks/menu-id-68/

It's a hidden crisis and it's killing more young black men then ever. Suicide is a taboo subject among many cultures, but the denial of mental health disorders runs rampant among African Americans. Between 1980 and 1995, the suicide rate of black males doubled to about eight deaths per 100,000 people. The authors of a new book are uncovering an unspoken crisis in the African American community.

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what stressers do think black men endure that would lead to depression ?

lack of money...hell we are always under pressure to be the baller and flash wealth. no money no honey (no woman)

pressure from work: we have to out perform the next guy just to be on even ground.

not to mention the other socialogical issues that are on your back as a black man.

 

That's all in your head. You've been well conditioned to be the victim. The black problem in this country is the family, or the absent of the father primarily. Every black kid I've kept in touch with since high school is working, making middle class money and enjoying themselves. It's because they had a 2 parent household that instills confidence, dedication and hard work in them. That is absent with a fatherless family, especially where the mother is out working 2 minimum wage jobs.

Pressure from work? Give me a break. Everybody is working harder then ever now in this economy. You do not have to work two times the ability of a white man to keep your job.

And what sociological issues? The problem is you think of yourself as a color and not a person. Everybody has issues. Are you talking about discrimination? I've lived in MN my whole life(26 years), never sensed discrimination or racism. Had white friends and girlfriends my whole life. I work in redneck central, a manufacturing company, there's a guy who can maintain an Amarillo, Texas accent who any race conscious black would be terrified to speak to. One of the coolest guys there. Chat with him all the time.

Quit thinking race first and foremost. You handicap yourself, and people like me are tired of hearing about you whining.

 

I co-sign with you tropolis. I'm tired of the negativity. We should help goodlove out with finding either a BW or a WW he can get establish a relationship with. I would recommend he move out of Alabama first, however.

 

great post, rather then some who bash and talk the kinda nonsense you would expect from a white republican, i'm gonna talk about your post and answer it piece y piece:

lack of money-the avg black person doesn't make that much money, and don't have readily available tools to create wealth. but another issue is savings. while many us don't make that much money, we don't think enough about saving the extra $10 we have, not realizing that $ 10 can turn into $100, then $1000 etc. in a lot of ways planning for the future.

pressure at work is very real. as a black person, we go to an enviroment that is predominately white, and for many of them its no issue, because they come into it, having shared similar experiences. for many blacks that isn't the case. and honestly there isn't much i can say about that expect work hard and try to gey promotions. but remember we are not at work all the time. to me, outside of work is when you become who you really are. remember we are a contiuation of a history, not just of black ppl, but the human race. we weren't met to just to stay in a cubicle, but were meant to continue a legacy way before us. volunteering,etc. gq brotha said it best, something along the lines of black ppl suffered so much in the past, having the opportunites we have today, it made him even more driven. i couldn't have said it better myself.

 

So you agree with me, even though you dismiss the "white republican response" at the same time.

You admit that saving money is a good idea. Who the hell is going to teach you that when over 70 percent of blacks are born out of wedlock with no father in sight? You arn't taught discipline. You are just trying to survive in that environment. What I've noticed in general are that blacks, specifically black males are very immature and not serious about real responsibility.

And the reason why you see high black unemployment and disparity in wages are a few things. 1. Blacks thrived in manufacturing and with the downturn that was outsourced to China. 2. Blacks have abysmal high school graduation rates and college graduation rates. I'm sorry, but I'm not hiring you if you can't even graduate high school, which is common for blacks in many states throughout the country.

The truth is tough, but it is what it is. Nobody is holding you back but yourself. Be glad you were born in this country, because you wouldn't have the opportunities you have here in most other countries.

I'm just tired of the whole victim mindset. It's annoying, and it goes against everything I've been taught.

 

no actually i don't.......you were just ranrting.......i was talking solutions.......

 

The solution is simple. Don't have kids unless you will commit to them and can support them. That's the number one problem in the black community right now.

 

funny thing is many ppl of all races seem to have this problem......

 

http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/suicide/statistics/rates01.html
http://www.suicide.org/suicide-statistics.html#2005

 

Proof that it is harder to be a man.

 

If you will, it could also mean that women are more resilient. But that is neither here, nor there as you cant read that from sheer statistics.
It wasn't my point.

 

no, I firmly doubt the resilient. There are other factors at play for it being more difficult for a man. Mostly relating to cash.

 

If that's the case, couldn't one say it's harder to be a white man than anything else? They do have a higher rate of suicide afterall...
Why do you guys think they have the highest?

it's also interesting to that see BW have the lowest sucide rate.

 

:smt018 The scope is small. You would have to do it world wide and the sample for black men is also small making it not closer to the truth.

wow I think you are right. I didn't pick up on that. Interesting. More studies needs to be done.

 

How did you not pick up on that? Look at the graph, how can you miss that??? That was my point. If you start doing a search on the matter world wide, it doesn't reflect what is going on w the African-American community as was the task at hand in this thread. No more, no less.

Black men all over the world do not reflect African-American struggles. They face other concerns than here in the US, cant be compared, that is country based and have to be compared withing said culture and country. Cant be compared to the US.

The scope is small?? I don't get that.. its backed up again and again in multitude of surveys showing the same difference. Huge differences at that. Solid research from solid sources.

If you look at world wide suicide - well then:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/

 

1. I am really surprised as well that I missed that. I just looked at the second link for the men and women. I didn't even bother with the race.
2. When I said the scope is small. I meant that the United States is not the world. You have quite a bit of people on the planet so I am sure you would see other results than what the person I replied to said. The stats that I saw were only for the united states hence why I say the scope is small and you have to do it world wide.

 

Well, I certainly disagree with most of what you say. I won't comment on the "statistic" you present about out-of-marriage births. In any case only serves to bring drama to issues that you don't support otherwise. If I took this to an equally illogical conclusion, I might be tempted to reached a ridiculous conclusion that only 30% of males are disciplined, and accordingly, have the ability to contribute meaningfully or gainfully in society, an obvious fallacy. The bare suggestion that Black males are immature is equally puzzling. In fact, if Black males are thrown into an environment of "survival" as you stated, I would argue that this situation would tend to make them more mature as it would be necessary to survive.

You assume that savings habits can't be taught in one-parent homes, where the father isn't present. I'm sure that most mothers, including those on this site would disagree with you that values can only be instilled, whether savings or discipline, in males if the father is present. What would that say about divorces when the male is young?

Attempting to reduce a significant problem into "sound bites" is an exercise that is asinine. You merely assert that your opinions are the reason for Black unemployment and wage disparity. I say that the reason is much more complex in terms of any number of issues including, historical racism with prevailing effects, institutional prejudice that affects women and minorities in general, quality and access to education, both at high school and college levels among others.

It is not a "truth" that you present but rather rhetoric that isn't supported by anything more than your sense of the world, unfortunately.

 

I have to say that both you and TerraStar make valid points. Black male depression is definitely a valid issue as TerraStar has implied. But it is only a valid issue because of what you stated...irresponsibility. The only way to turn these issues around is to take responsibility for them in the first place. Unfortunately, the struggle to do is much steeper for black men. Thus, many back men don't even try. Furthermore, I think it is ironc that a tremendous more amount of whites commit more suicides even though wealth and opportunity is abundantly overflowing.

 

Damn fam great post.

 

great post.........