As a part of Black History Month, there is a focus on mental health in the Black community.
Mental health specialists are paying close attention to depression and suicide as the effects of the pandemic near a bleak one year anniversary.
“Whenever I am teaching about trauma, I always remind people that trauma is cumulative. We as black people have been traumatized from slavery through Jim Crow, through the civil rights of the 50s and 60s. This is just one more trauma added to that trauma,” Fort Worth psychologist Brian Dixon said. “So, it is really important to keep that all in context. We should also keep in mind that as a part of trauma – you didn’t cause the trauma. We need to be very thoughtful about that and very mindful about that as black people so that we can be open to change and healing.”
Dixon said that there has been increased interest in mental health resources within the black community.
“Everybody should have a therapist. There are more people who are doing therapy online,” Dixon said. “Reach out to a therapist. Reach out to a barber. Reach out to a pastor. Reach out to somebody that you trust and take the opportunity now to invest in yourself.”
