A new book, “Say It Loud! I’m Black and I’m Depressed,” highlights African-American men who suffer from depression are more than twice as likely to die within a year after suffering a heart attack. In the book, it suggests that more than 2 million black men in the US suffer depression and heart disease, and many of the times the signs go ignored.
In 1999, the Surgeon General of the United States pointed out that health concerns continue to grow strong in the black community. Six of the top ten causes of death in the African-American community include stroke, diabetes, cancer, murder, suicide and AIDS. These causes are all increased by depression.
On each page of “Say It Loud,“ the statistics, the studies and the reality stand boldly and let the reader know depression is not a laughing matter. It isn’t something people just get over. It isn’t something they “snap out of,” or they can pray away. It is a serious disease and is even more dangerous because it makes diseases that already affect the community disproportionately worse.
Suicide is a foreign concept in the black community, but, sadly it is one of the top killers of black men in the United States claiming 4.5 African-American males every hour. For African-American’s, “Say It Loud,” is a must read to learn more about depression, and how it manifests itself among black males.
The book is available in PDF format or paperback at lulu.com.
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