Mental Health Monday #46: Gucci Mane's sobriety, the mental impact of activism, healing via therapy, etc.

Welcome to another round of Mental Health Monday, your weekly dose of stories, resources, and motivation for your everyday life. In last week's edition, NY Giants star Brandon Marshall discusses his journey with borderline personality disorder, a former bully and her former victim reconcile 15 years later, finding new purpose while living with chronic illnesses, etc. Holler.

THIS WEEK'S GOODNESS:

"When Therapy Is a Comfort" by Bassey Ikpi [The Root]

I realized that my anxiety and depression needed more than little pills that were constantly being refilled; it needed a conversation. It needed a place for the worry and doubt to go. It needed to exist somewhere outside of my own brain. I needed someone to hear me and tell me what was real and what my brain was lying to me about regarding who I was or what I was capable of.

"Gucci Mane Speaks Out on Sobriety and Mental Health: "It makes me stronger."" [Black Doctor]

Since his release from prison, his main priority is getting his mental and physical health back on track. “I had time to sit back and evaluate everything, and also dry out from the drugs. I tried to make the time work for me the best I could,” said Gucci. “I didn’t want to live my life in prison. So I was like, one thing I need to do is be totally sober. I need to have complete clarity. I need to have razor sharp focus on everything I do, every day from when I wake up to when I go to sleep.”

Patrisse Khan-Cullors (photo: Jill Frank)

"This BLM Cofounder Thinks Therapy Should Be Part of Reparations" Elizabeth Nicholas [VICE]

Over the years I have been told to go take care of myself when I was experiencing anxiety or depression, to go do something and come back when I was better. And so what I want to do is create space inside of the movement to foster resilience and for people to take care of themselves. Our movement shouldn’t make us feel disposable.

"A look at how anxiety affects African-Americans" Mashaun D. Simon [NBC]

Angela Neal-Barnett, a director of Kent State’s Program for Research on Anxiety Disorders among African-Americans within the school’s Department of Psychology, told NBC News that for years, no one was writing about anxiety and blackness because researchers assumed anxiety disorders affected African-Americans the same as whites. While on an internship as part of her studies, she was told that the only things African-Americans were afraid of were roaches and rats.

"Jay-Z says therapists should be in schools" by Alexandra King [CNN]

Teenagers especially need help, the rapper emphasized, as young adults often "don't have the language to navigate" their problems with everything from drinking to social anxiety to bullying.

"I think actually it should be in our schools. Children have the most going on. Their minds aren't fully developed," he said.

Join the conversation:

How do you get some joy?

RESOURCES

A reading list for Black folks dealing with or in recovery from eating disorders [National Eating Disorder Association]

If you have a mental health resource, event, or piece of content we should know about, step into our office. You da bess.