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#black mental health matters

therapyforblackgirls · 9 months

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In observance of Minority Mental Health Month, Therapy for Black Girls and The Holding Space Foundation are teaming up to host a series of online events to explore the ways in which Black women of various generations connect, foster friendships, and evolve together through the campaign, Generations of Sisterhood.

TBG is excited to partner with Tumblr, streaming this event live just for you! Join Dr. Joy Harden Bradford and Dr. Lakeysha (Key) Hallmon, July 26th @ 7PM EST for a powerful keynote event conversation on the power of Sisterhood.

Grab Your FREE Registration Link Here : therapyforblackgirls.com/gos

#therapy for black girls #therapyforblackgirls #minority mental health month #black mental health matters #mental health #therapy #positivity #mental health recovery #emotional health #mental health support #black tumblr #blk tumblr

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postitforward · 1 year

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Today’s world is a difficult one. It is becoming evermore digital and can be all the lonelier for it. And with it can come anxiety in abundance. But we have someone who we think might be able to help: Jasmine Marie, CEO and Founder of black girls breathing®, who is here to explore the many big questions in this strange new world.

We will be partnering with @blackgirlsbreathing, a safe space for Black women and girls to manage their mental health and reflect on and heal their trauma through breathwork and community. They aim to offer free and accessible mental health resources to one million Black women and girls by 2025.

COVID-19 harmed us in more ways than one, and some more than others. It widened the gap of accessible mental health resources available to Black and Brown communities at the same time many in these same groups were experiencing isolation, compacted grief, and depression. Jasmine’s work is focused on providing preventative tools to combat a taxed nervous system, and black girls breathing® is here to provide free and accessible mental health resources to Black women and girls by offering not just breathwork, but a community. So if you’re a Black woman or girl, take the pledge to take one action to better your mental health by grabbing your free mental health toolkit and signing up here. And don't forget to ask her a question, and join us back here on March 27th to see her answers.

Want to learn more about @blackgirlsbreathing?

Check out their website!

Breathe with us on March 27th @12pm EDT during their Mindful Monday Breathwork for Anxiety session on Tumblr Live

Get to know black girls breathing's founder, Jasmine Marie on her Tumblr Spotlight

Take the pledge with black girls breathing®

#breathework #healing #black girls breathing x tumblr #black girls breathing #issuetime #mental health matters #black mental health matters #issuetime with black girls breathing

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ausetkmt · 3 months

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YourTango: If You’ve Been Keeping Your Childhood Trauma A Secret, You Need To Read This

You’ve kept your childhood trauma a secret out of shame and fear. There was no one safe to tell. Now, you don’t know who you can trust. If you open up, you’re afraid of being judged or punished. It’s a lonely way to live and bad for your mental health.

Childhood trauma is devastating, no matter what form it takes. It affects your self-esteem, trust, future relationships, and sense of safety in the world. And, no matter what you do to forget, the secrets haunt you every day.

You know some of the reasons you’ve kept secrets, but is there more? Plus, you wonder, are some of the things you’re struggling with caused by your secrets?

Yes, keeping secrets can cause psychological symptoms and problems. So, let’s talk about 6 reasons why you might be keeping your childhood trauma a secret, how secrets lead to psychological problems, and what you can do about it now.

You have your reasons for keeping your trauma a secret. Everyone is different and trauma uniquely affects each child. Yet, there are some common things.

They have to do with what you felt, what you believed about people and yourself, and the only way you knew to manage your trauma. Maybe you can relate to some of these 6 reasons for keeping trauma a secret.

RELATED: 5 Ways To Heal Your Childhood Trauma (So You Don't Have To Suffer Any Longer)

1. You wondered if it was your fault

If your trauma was a form of abuse or even a loss, you might feel it’s your fault.

Children often blame themselves when they have no other way to interpret what happened. Or, when you got yelled at and felt bad. Even if you lost a parent, you might think you made it happen because you needed too much or got angry.

It’s not true. None of it was your fault. But, you’re vulnerable as a child to what you’re told. And to your fantasies and misinterpretations of your trauma and early life.

Now you have a taunting self-critical voice in your head that tells you all kinds of negative things about yourself. That voice makes you feel bad.

If you were yelled at, called names, or criticized as a child, it’s the voice of the parent who picked on you. That voice lives inside you and makes you feel to blame for everything.

This is a terrible thing to live with. It makes you close off to people. You can’t openly be yourself because you truly feel you have things to hide. Or that no one will like who you are.

When you live with such bad feelings, it’s hard not to feel shame. If you can’t be openly who you are, you can't open up about your trauma.

All you want to do is forget what happened. You don’t see any other choice.

2. You don’t want to remember

“Forgetting” or, at least detaching from the feelings you had in (and about) your trauma, is a typical reaction. It’s called dissociation. And it’s a way of protecting yourself during the traumatic experiences — to feel as if you weren’t there.

This kind of self-protection continues if you don’t get psychological help.

You might live a fairly detached emotional life. Maybe you even have OCD to control your feelings. Of course, you don’t want to remember.

Childhood trauma is too scary and the feelings are overwhelming. Especially when there is no one there to help you or understand the feelings you have. You were alone with it.

You try your best to push aside memories if they start to come back. What else can you do? When you convince yourself not to talk about it, then you are alone now too.

3. Remembering makes you relive it

One of the reasons you don’t want to think about it and try so hard not to, is that remembering makes you relive the trauma. Sometimes it comes back in flashbacks. You feel like you are there. Little and scared and helpless. It’s all real.

So, not only does the idea of telling your secret make you feel ashamed and afraid of humiliation. But, opening up your childhood trauma in any way makes you feel that it’s happening all over again. All the feelings flood back into it. It’s just too much.

You tell yourself, you can do it. Just push it away, don’t think about it, keep yourself busy. You’re convinced it should work. There isn’t any other way to deal with it. You keep telling yourself over and over, “It’s in the past. Isn’t it? Just move on.”

RELATED: The Common Phrase People With Unresolved Childhood Trauma Say Without Even Realizing It

4. You wonder if it is better to move on

You don’t want to open up your secrets. That’s too scary especially when thinking about it by yourself is overwhelming. The only thing that makes sense is to “forget about it” and move on.

You can’t think of any other way to deal with your childhood trauma. So you have to believe that just moving on is the only thing to do.

Yet, sometimes you still have flashbacks. or memories. Even symptoms of anxiety and depression. You feel socially anxious. It’s hard to relax and completely trust. That’s one reason you keep secrets. But, it’s also a difficult way to live. You can’t get close to anyone and it’s sometimes a lonely life.

But, the very thought of letting your secret out to anyone, makes you wonder who? You’re not sure if anyone is safe enough to trust. Who wouldn’t humiliate you? And, you don’t believe that anyone could understand.

5. You think no one would understand

Childhood trauma makes it extremely difficult to trust. So, you’ve had to go it alone in most ways in your life. You were betrayed by the people you were supposed to trust, the ones who were supposed to take care of you. They didn’t understand. Far from it. Instead, they deeply hurt and emotionally scarred you.

Sometimes you think that no one you meet has suffered the way you have. Intellectually you know that other people have suffered trauma too. But, you don’t know anyone who has. Or, at least, no one has talked about it either. So, where would you find someone to understand? It seems virtually impossible.

And, what if you tried to talk to someone who hasn’t had trauma? Could they remotely “get” what you’ve gone through? How hard it is to open up?

Not believing anyone can understand makes you more lonely. Plus, if you’ve been hurt a lot since childhood, this only reinforces your conviction that keeping your secret is the only way to go. Yet, is it?

Here are some reasons why keeping secrets might not be in your best interest:

1. “Forgetting” doesn’t work

Remember. “Forgetting” is the very common psychological defense of dissociation, detachment, or numbing. Every traumatized person reacts this way. It’s the only way you can protect yourself when you’re being hurt or abused as a child. Especially when the ones who should be helping you hurt you instead.

You want to believe you can forget. Forgetting is your best attempt to keep your trauma a secret from yourself. You think, at least you want to believe, that if you don’t open it up in your mind, it will go away. Certainly, you wish it would. But, it doesn’t work. If you stop to think about it, you know that too.

You are still suffering.

RELATED: Experts Reveal The Most Common Childhood Complaint They Hear In Therapy

2. Secrets eat away at you

Your secrets are living in your symptoms. Eating away at you. You’ve tried your best to move on, but you still have flashbacks or nightmares. Intrusive thoughts and memories enter your mind. Even if you don’t realize it consciously, it’s true.

These secrets of your childhood trauma affect your life every day.

No one keeps a secret unless they feel it’s too awful to tell. And, childhood trauma is awful. That’s the truth. Childhood trauma leaves deep scars.

But, if you live with your trauma in secret, it affects you more. Those secrets eat away at you. They eat away at your self-esteem. Secrets make you feel worse about yourself because you think there’s some shame in telling. There’s not.

But, if you believe that, you can’t get help. Your symptoms continue, even if you try to forget.

3. Untreated trauma creates symptoms

The symptoms of trauma take many forms. You’ve tried to forget and go numb.

Yet, you might still experience persistent episodes of depression. Maybe an eating disorder. OCD is a frequent result of childhood trauma. Even unrelenting physical symptoms, such as gastrointestinal problems, can be the places where your childhood trauma lives.

You can’t go on forever in a state of numbness. Eventually, like novocaine or a sedative, it wears off. Something in you comes alive.

If you don’t have a conscious memory or flashback, you have anxiety or depression. Sometimes it can be really bad. Or your OCD takes over and gets worse. You might even feel panicky and not know why.

These are all forms of the psychological problems a secret begins to take. Yet, these are symptoms. And, underlying these symptoms are deeper scars.

The scars of childhood trauma affect your self-esteem and your trust in people. They're expressed in your difficulty forming close relationships. Even having the work or creative success you want. These scars hide away in your symptoms of depression, anxiety, panic, OCD, physical problems, or eating disorders.

But, these psychological symptoms are clues. They’re signals that your childhood trauma is trying to get your attention. That you need some help. And, keeping secrets makes it impossible to get them.

Secrets make you stay away from psychotherapy too. For childhood trauma, therapy can change your life.

What needs to be understood are the very particular ways your trauma is repeating itself in how you feel about yourself, your dreams, the critical voice in your head that creates your shame, and your fears of closeness and intimacy.

What is being played out is unique to you and your history, different for each traumatized child.

Think about it. Keeping secrets might have seemed the only way to go. Especially since you’ve been convinced you’ll be judged or hurt again. Or that no one will understand. But, there are experts in treating childhood trauma.

And, these experts do know about and understand the reasons for secrets and your distrust.

Where do you start? Look for a psychotherapist who specializes in childhood trauma. If you can, find an expert who also has psychoanalytic training. Why?

Because a psychoanalyst has the knowledge to get to the early roots of your trauma. You aren’t just living with symptoms. The symptoms are expressions of what happened to you.

Once you can take the risk and decide it’s best to tell your secrets to someone who understands, it's important to be in a therapy that gets to the roots of how your childhood trauma, earliest relationships, and history still affect your life.

You don’t have to be alone with the feelings you’re so afraid will all come flooding back.

You need kindness. Understanding. Help develop trust. A therapist who not only gets to the roots but will invite and be with any feelings you have, including your anger. There are therapists who can. If this isn’t happening, move on. In good therapy, telling your secrets and getting help will change your life.

RELATED: The Sad Reason Why Childhood Trauma Is Holding You Back As An Adult

Dr. Sandra Cohen is a Los Angeles-based psychologist and psychoanalyst who specializes in working with survivors of abuse and childhood trauma.

This article was originally published at Sandra E. Cohen's blog. Reprinted with permission from the author.

#Childhood Trauma #Black Trauma #Trauma #childhood trauma #Black Health #Black LIves Matter #Sandra Cohen #Black Mental Health Matters

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tryingating · 1 year

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I feel like a freight train hit me and dragged my soul for 12km...that psych hold was scary and also made me happy that I'm getting the attention my mental health deserves.

I just got a call from the CMHA and I returned the voicemail.

I might go stay with my mom out of province for a while to recuperate and try to find some meaning.

These new meds are harsh, I vomit every time they start to digest but at least I don't have suicidal thoughts or feel too heavy and I'm going to give these night meds a try also...I just want happiness so badly.

#black mental illness #black mental health matters #black mental health #txt #black community #black womanhood #me #depressing shit #im so tired #i need to live for something

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perfectlyyoungtimetravel · 2 months

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Wellness Wednesdays

Clinical Associate Professor Ruth White points to the phenomenon of criminalization of African American behavior which she frames within the context of American Justice system. 13% of the adult population is black in the U.S. and 33% of them are sentenced to prison + they get more police brutality than white people meanwhile white people who make up 61% of the adult population,only 30% of them are imprisoned. If an African American person with a mental illness (example: schizophrenia) acts out violently, they're in a much higher chance to get criminalized than to be given a mental health care...that is horrible...and of course this stoked the fear in the black community and caused an even more rejection of getting mental health care fearing they might get harsh legal repercussions. Now Ruth has said 'As a country, we need to make meaningful policy changes that will increase mental health care Access for people of color so fewer African Americans will go without the treatment they need'.

Source:

Please if you do suffer from mental illnesses or have intrusive thoughts please reach out and talk to people and get help...I know it's easier said than done...but they can help you or at least try to help... people care about you...you can't hide it for long because just like dry ice inside the plastic bottle... your emotions will explode.

#Blm #black history #black community #police brutality #ruth white #Black mental health #Black mental health matters #Black mental care #black wellness #wellness wednesday

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miracleon63rdstreet · 2 months

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I was just beaten, stabbed, and shot all in just the matter of a few days, each day a different incident or attack by an individual in my family and outside of my family by ppl around me, I had to get several stitches in my legs, arms, hands and even some in my face after being jumped and beaten and stabbed, I had a bullet pulled out my leg and my side, I was shot 8 times, 4 times in the legs and 2 times in my right lower abdomen and another 2 times in my left lower abdomen, I been in and out of the hospital including the mental hospital for suicide attempts as well as being harmed by transphobic ppl, I've been struggling paying for costs of a vet visit after my kitten was killed by my moms dog after she had her dog kill her, I've been raped, molested and abused by my family and ppl in my schools and neighborhood and I just get tired of being in this same situation surrounded by poverty, I live in a neighborhood where I'm constantly threatened for being a black trans woman and I have NO ONE TO TURN TO, I've tried getting help finding a new job but it's harder after constantly being fired for molestation at work and sexual harassment and constant work abuse I've been thru whether it was employees or managers targeting me with harassment and bullying within the workplace and it's been hard in general trying to get help with financial situations, paying for medical bills and get med assistance from the government and the city as well as mental health help for therapists, psychiatric help, and safe space havens or shelters, I've also been from mental health facility shelter to homeless shelters and been harassed, abused, raped and molested in EVERY SINGLE ONE, i am currently living in a rundown home surrounded by poverty and bad conditions, rusted bursted pipes, i have no plumbing, no water, no way to get anything to drink, to clean stuff with, i dont have water for dishes to be cleaned, laundry to be washed, or to bathe or shower in or to take a piss or shit in either and there are several dead cats in my basement as well as raccoons from all the holes in the walls, I had to freeze in the winter and was trying to get help from the city with some government assistance and I'VE YET TO GET ANY HELP, ANY THERAPISTS FOR MY MENTAL HEALTH I'M STILL ON A QUEUE, I HAVE NO HELP FOR MENTAL HEALTH MEDS, OR PSYCHIATRIC HELP, I can't seem to afford to get help with much even after succeeding my Gofundme goal because I had to use most of that money for food for me and my cats and keep cleaning products to get my home clean WHICH IS STILL A MESS. so what i need anyone to do for me if yall POSSIBLY CAN, is reblog this as much as you can and please share my links to donation help with pet food, water, meds, med help, mental health help, finding an apartment, getting a bed or mattress, and any daily needs and necessities IF YALL CAN.

My goal is to get at least $2500 to $3000, I know it's alot but rn I need as much as I can possibly get, yall can send anything, nothing is too small it's ALL APPRECIATED. IF PPL CAN SEND AT LEAST 25 OR 30$ EACH IT WOULD HELP OUT SO MUCH, BUT AGAIN ANY AMOUNT IS APPRECIATED. THIS is REALLY IMPORTANT!!....I'M TRYING MY BEST TO SURVIVE RIGHT NOW!

Cashapp: $Slasherstan91

Venmo: Negrophiliac (I know the name's wild 😭)

Chime: $MarsRayL

Paypal: paypal.me/MarsRayL

#black tumblr #black trans women #black lgbtq #mutual aid #black lives matter #black mental health #black women #please help #donation post #please donate #extremely urgent #need help #please reblog

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educationalpsychjunkie · 1 year

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Thoughts at 1 Something AM

“The bravest thing I ever did was continuing my life when I wanted to die.” -Juliette Lewis I can’t find rest. I want to be able to relax, but I can’t. I sit up, eat, and cry on the inside. I am beginning not to like myself. I feel like a waste of time and not worthy of love. My family loves me, and my friends respect me,…

View On WordPress

#Bipolar Depression #Bipolar Disorder #Black Bloggers #Black Mental Health Matters #Black People with Mental Illness #Black women blogger #Depression #Mental Health Awareness #Self Discovery

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theereina · 18 days

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IG: theestallion

Thee Hot Girl Coach for thee cover of Women’s Health Magazine 💙💪🏽

Credits:

Editor-in-chief: lizplosser

Photographer: ramonarosales

Interview: somekindofemme

Stylist: kgsaladino

Hair: kellonderyck

Makeup: lorvida

Manicurist: nailsdid.byginger

Set Designer: carlosanthonylopez of winstonstudios

Design Director: betsyhalsey

Executive Visual Director: fvleroux

Entertainment Director: maxwelllosgar

Production: kindlyproductions

PR Agency: VitalVersatility

Hearst Magazine Entertainment: hmebookings

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therapyforblackgirls · 8 months

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10 Things To Remember if You're Chronically Overwhelmed

Feeling chronically overwhelmed may be a trauma response. Trauma activates the flight or fight response in our bodies. This activation engages the sympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic nervous system activation releases stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine. In the presence of danger, these hormones help us survive. When danger is not present, these hormones can cause you to feel overwhelmed and can lead to physical symptoms of stress to include increased heart rate, sweating and digestive issues. After experiencing trauma, it is possible that your sympathetic nervous system may be hyperactivated. This hyperactivation may culminate in chronically feeling stressed, on edge, hypervigilant, jumpy or on guard. It may be difficult to relax. The good news is that you can reset a hyperactivated nervous system through trauma healing.

#therapyforblackgirls #therapy for black girls #minority mental health month #black mental health matters #mental health #therapy #positivity #black tumblr #blk tumblr #emotional health #mental health recovery #mental health support

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risingphoenix87 · 7 months

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[deep inhale] So...this is bad.

Soulbunni, a talented artist, art student, and YouTube content creator, was doxxed by people who it seems were angered by her criticisms of the racist actions of their favorite "leftist" Internet celebrities, and thus has to move when the fall semester ends in December for her own safety.

I am LIVID, and this is just another case of the toxicity fostered within these online "leftist" spaces that's sadly become all too common.

But what's important right now is helping Soulbunni afford her move. So please pass on her fundraiser, and contribute if you're able. This is just...so inhumane.

#black lives matter #mutual aid #community care #signal boost #online harassment #cornbreadtube #mental health

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queenvlion · 2 years

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🚨📣📢⚠️➡️ “AT SOME POINT BLACK WOMEN 👑 LIVES HAVE TO MATTER AS EQUAL IN AMERICA 🇺🇸”- BEN CRUMP 👑

#Pamela Turner #say their names #say her name #protect black women #black mental health #black mental health matters #justice for Pamela Turner #not guilty verdict #the more you know

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black-mental-health-matters · 2 years

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https://apps.apple.com/us/story/id1527475790

*for us, by us*

An app that is specifically for the Black community, made with the intent of helping with stress, anxiety, microagressions, and way more… it’s definitely something I think could be an extremely helpful meditation app…

I’ve had people complain that i have spoken on the need for Black psychiatrists to help those in the Black community. It’s not about “separate” at all- it’s simply factual that only another person of the same color will understand the experiences that white people cannot. These experiences are trauma inducing, and having someone to understand is crucial. That is what this app is about; dealing with all stressors but especially those that only people in the Black community can understand.

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