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Black Women's Mental Health: Balancing Strength and Vulnerability
Creates a new framework for approaching Black women’s wellness, by merging theory and practice with both personal narratives and public policy.
This book offers a unique, interdisciplinary, and thoughtful look at the challenges and potency of Black women’s struggle for inner peace and mental stability. It brings together contributors from psychology, sociology, law, and medicine, as well as the humanities, to discuss issues ranging from stress, sexual assault, healing, self-care, and contemplative practice to health-policy considerations and parenting. Merging theory and practice with personal narratives and public policy, the book develops a new framework for approaching Black women’s wellness in order to provide tangible solutions. The collection reflects feminist praxis and defines womanist peace in terms that reject both “superwoman” stereotypes and “victim” caricatures. Also included for health professionals are concrete recommendations for understanding and treating Black women.
“…this book speaks not only to Black women but also educates a broader audience of policymakers and therapists about the complex and multilayered realities that we must navigate and the protests we must mount on our journey to find inner peace and optimal health.” — from the Foreword by Linda Goler Blount
“By bringing together people in the social sciences, the humanities and policy in the writing of Black Women’s Mental Health, the editors help women in the academy begin to forge partnerships that help center and amplify black women’s voices. The book provides a bibliography of sources that researchers can utilize to build models for future research and programming.” — Women in Higher Education
This book offers a unique, interdisciplinary, and thoughtful look at the challenges and potency of Black women’s struggle for inner peace and mental stability. It brings together contributors from psychology, sociology, law, and medicine, as well as the humanities, to discuss issues ranging from stress, sexual assault, healing, self-care, and contemplative practice to health-policy considerations and parenting. Merging theory and practice with personal narratives and public policy, the book develops a new framework for approaching Black women’s wellness in order to provide tangible solutions. The collection reflects feminist praxis and defines womanist peace in terms that reject both “superwoman” stereotypes and “victim” caricatures. Also included for health professionals are concrete recommendations for understanding and treating Black women.
“…this book speaks not only to Black women but also educates a broader audience of policymakers and therapists about the complex and multilayered realities that we must navigate and the protests we must mount on our journey to find inner peace and optimal health.” — from the Foreword by Linda Goler Blount
“By bringing together people in the social sciences, the humanities and policy in the writing of Black Women’s Mental Health, the editors help women in the academy begin to forge partnerships that help center and amplify black women’s voices. The book provides a bibliography of sources that researchers can utilize to build models for future research and programming.” — Women in Higher Education
324 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2017
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690 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 19, 2025
I found this book to be very informative, well written, thoughtful, and an interesting read. I really appreciated the deep dive into a lot of topics that we say supports mental wellness but never really get into the why- or the evidence behind it and this book does that very well.
October 12, 2025
mental health
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April 26, 2019362.1089 B6279 2017
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews