What Depression Looks Like In High-Functioning Black Women

“The stereotype of the strong, capable Black woman persists. At times, it may seem like Black women have no choice but to pretend everything is well.”

The Expectation

If you have been feeling odd for months, procrastinating more than usual, and having trouble focusing on things like reading a good book or beginning a TV show, there may be more to it.

Imagine making a doctor’s visit and hearing that you were depressed. It’s not natural to be constantly triggered by prior trauma and a constant desire to sleep. It hinders your work, you realize.

After hearing this, your doctor may say, “This sounds like depression.” A complete diagnostic test and appointment might diagnose you. The strange aspect is that you can function amid all of this. Your social life, relationship, and career may still be great. How could you be depressed when everything was going well?

“One may envision depression to look like laying in bed with the curtains drawn in your jammies with your hair all over your head, not practicing daily hygiene, hardly eating,” says Texas-based grieving and trauma-certified clinical social worker Jasmine Cobb. “But working-class Black people don’t have time for that; we must go to work and keep progressing. Many depressed and anxious persons instinctively hide their symptoms as high-functioning or productive.”

Grief & Depression

There is a stigma attached to discussing mental health in Black communities, the assumption that Black women are superwomen who can do it all, and the continual need to keep working, all of which may give the impression that there is just no space in this society for a Black woman who is not alright.

When it comes to mental health in the Black community, the sense of grieving is widespread and sometimes misunderstood as depression.

It’s a powerful, often overpowering sensation of grief that follows a severe loss, which, according to common opinion, is not restricted to death.