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The working world can be a cruel place to spend eight or more hours each day and it’s an especially hard place for Black women. So it is no wonder professional Black women suffer from depression at a higher rate.

According to a study published by the Center for Disease Control, between 17 and 20 million Americans suffer from depression annually. Women (4 percent vs. 2.7 percent of men) and African-Americans (4 percent) deal with major depression more than whites (3.1 percent). Yet, African Americans tend not to seek treatment. The CDC study found that in 2011 just 7.6 percent of African-Americans received treatment for depression, versus 13.6 percent of the general population.

“Because Blacks, particularly Black women, experience higher rates of depression than their white female or Black male counterparts, but receive lower rates of treatment for depression — specifically adequate treatment — they remain one of the most undertreated groups for depression in the United States. Several major reasons account for high rates of depression and low rates of treatment for depression among African-American women,” reported The Huffington Post.

While experts debate the reasons behind high depression rates from Black women–claiming everything from being single mothers at a higher rate (studies show about 72 percent of Black mothers are single) to residual issues stemming from slavery–the fact is it is a major problem. Imagine having to deal with the rigors of the corporate world while dealing with depression. It would be nearly impossible to climb that ladder. That’s what businesswoman Lisa Brown Alexander found.

In 2000, Brown Alexander worked as Director of Human Resources & Administration with the American Symphony Orchestra League (now the League of American Symphonies). She was also starting to build her own company, Nonprofit HR, a full-service human resources firm focused exclusively on the nonprofit sector whose clients have included Amnesty International, ASPCA, Goodwill Industries, Greenpeace. But her struggle with depression threatened to sidetrack her success.

“I am a successful career woman who has battled with depression for five years,” she told us. “As entrepreneurs, mothers, wives, daughters, and friends, sometimes it’s our very success, however, that causes us to bury our pain deep under our education, our titles and professional credentials, our expensive make-up, designer clothes and late-model luxury cars. We cannot and will not let anyone – even our closest loved ones, see us sweat, or cry, or be lost. I want to change that and speak out openly about my challenges and restoration as a business leader.”

And that’s exactly what she did, penning a book on the subject, Strong On the Outside, Dying On the Inside, which talks about her own personal journey through depression. “It was time to speak out openly about my struggle and share my healing journey with all women, particularly Black women,” said Alexander. “Honestly, the book started as a journal entry, evolved into a sermon, and eventually became a book. The act of writing was cathartic and gave me a safe, uninterrupted space for getting out what had been locked inside for years. The more I wrote, the more I felt the freedom to reach out to others. The more I reached out, the more I realized that I wasn’t alone in my experience. Hearing the pain of other women I knew, and looking at my own experience made me realize that I needed to share my story to help other women like me.”

And that’s exactly what she’s done.

“The response has been both inspiring and sad at the same time,” Brown Alexander shared. “There has not been a time when I’ve spoken or had a book signing and someone hasn’t come up to me after with tears in their eyes and pain in their voices about their battles with depression and how they’ve been afraid to talk about what they’ve been experiencing. Almost every time I’ve engaged groups of women in conversation about the issue of depression, I’m sitting in a room full of women who look like they’ve got it all together. That’s inspiring. Yet when the conversations move beyond the surface, I’m often been blown away with how much raw pain and emotion so many of us are holding inside.

“Many times, I’m speaking with professional women, women who are seen as ‘accomplished’ and having it all together. Most folks see the MBAs and the JDs and the power suits. I often see beautiful, successful, seemingly powerful women living in pain and no one knows it because they haven’t given themselves permission to remove their masks and be real with themselves about their mental and emotional struggles. They look strong on the outside, but they are absolutely dying on the inside.”

While discussions about mental illness, and even treatment, have for a long time been considered taboo in the Black community, there has been more open discussion as of late. “I’ve seen progress over the last several years. Progress is good but we still have a way to go. Yes, depression is talked about more among professional women and in academic circles. Where we don’t see as much progress is in the streets, in homes and in the church. Many of us still hold the belief that we don’t have time to be depressed and that depression is a concocted illness for rich, white women. That said, the death of Robin Williams and other celebrities who have taken their lives in response to their battles with depression, have helped to bring the issue of out of the shadows and into mainstream conversations,” noted Brown Alexander.

It is important for Black female professionals to be aware of their mental health, but all too often Black women try to handle it on their on while spending more time helping others. “It’s important for Black female professionals — and males, for that matter –to be aware of their mental health because we, in many instances, are the breadwinners for our families and need to be healthy on all levels for ourselves and our loved ones and many of us sacrifice our mental and physical health for our careers,” explained Brown Alexander. “The pressure to be successful in today’s competitive climate is enormous and many of us attribute our self-worth with our careers, our paychecks and our education. We see ourselves as having worked too hard to pause because we ‘have the blues.’ I’m also a strong believer in the power of the Black family. Our families need healthy spouses, parents, and children to realize our God-given potential. When our mental health is negatively impacted, so are our families.”

When it comes to the steps we should take to ensure optimal mental health, Brown Alexander imparted this advice. “First, we have to recognize that we are not invincible. We must realize that we are whole people with mental, physical, emotional and spiritual needs that should be nurtured and fed. We must also be honest with ourselves when our funky attitudes, bad moods and feelings of despondency and sadness have lasted just a bit too long. We’ve got to be willing to take off our ‘strong Black woman masks,’ acknowledge our pain and be willing to talk about what’s going on inside of us. We can’t perpetually carry the weight of our families and our communities on our shoulders. Sometimes, we simply need to say no, I need to take care of me, so that I can help take care of you. That means, making our mental health a priority just like we do meeting that deadline at work or writing that whiz-bang report.”

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