A powerful new studyprovides a Womanist theological framework to understandhigh levels of depression in Black women.
In a remarkable and poignant series of case studies, clinical social worker and ordained minister Rochelle Johnson provides a cogent study of the causes and effects of depression in Black woman in contemporary America.
Inspired by Womanist theology and the insights of the pioneering psychoanalytic theories of Heinz Kohut, she shows how societal and historical barriers hinder the healing journeys of Black women thanks to the lack of mental health resources and systemic racism. By examining Black women's experiences at the intersection of oppression, trauma, culture, and church life, she demonstrates howhistorical trauma, racist myths, and harmful theological interpretationsintensify the unique difficulties they encounter.
About the Author :
Rochelle Johnson is a womanist theologian whose research centers on Black women of faith living with clinical depression and practical approaches to pastoral care. She is also a licensed clinical social worker with a private practice in Chicago. Her primary passions include teaching, parish work, and mental health. Johnson has extensive clinical social work experience in the Chicago area, including work at community mental health centers, churches, hospitals, and public schools. In addition to her theological degrees, she holds a certification from the Center of Religion and Psychotherapy. She is an ordained reverend in the United Church of Christ and holds a PhD from Garrett Theological Seminary's Pastoral Theology, Personality, and Culture program. She serves as the Emotional Well-Being Consultant for Advocate Health, Midwest Region, offering her expertise to clergy and congregations. Johnson lives in Matteson, Illinois.
Review :
“A must read for those who care about Black Women. Johnson exposes the prevalence of traumatic histories, depression, and their difficulty finding informed help from psychologists and pastors . . . a gift to these professionals and to all who educate them.”
"Systemic Oppression and Depression in Black Women is an excellent resource that fully addresses the spiritual care of Black women experiencing persistent depression. In diagnostic terms, Rochelle Johnson, through engaging with historical texts, social epidemiology, Kohutian self-psychology, and womanist theology, explores the complex intertwining of history, culture and religion in the experience of mental health challenges among Black people in the USA. In dialogue with Womanist theologians, she provides life-giving and life-transforming visions which challenge the embedded theologies linked with the pain of sufferers. This thoughtful book gives pastoral and spiritual care givers all they need for the holistic care of people facing the mental health challenges that are increasingly rife in the world today.”
"Johnson deftly weaves the history of the Strong Black Woman identity with the social context and theological reflection that persons of all colors can absorb and assimilate. Especially strong are the interviews with Black women who have experienced depression and the impact of social discourses upon them. This metholodgy humanizes what can be an abstract examination of a challenging situation. Johnson's courage also shines as she engages with critique of the Black Church in the response to depression among Black women. Please read and learn.”
"Amid ever-morphing racism in the African American experience, along with Black women’s own just struggles against primordial, cross-cultural, religiously sanctioned sexism and historically brutal misogynoir, how can Black women remain spiritually and psychologically grounded as well as emotionally poised in the unending fight for equity? Through what means do we shore ourselves up against not only the ruinous havoc of clinical depression but also its stigmatizing implications? What redemptive possibilities lie within existing concepts and frameworks of care? What needs to be revisited or redeployed as instruments of true and lasting healing? Drawing from the deep well of womanist biblical scholarship, ethical reflection, and theological wisdom, womanist pastoral theologian Rochelle Johnson provides “a pastoral way forward” for all healers and people of goodwill to join Black women in reinvigorating their emotional health, human agency, and divine purpose, i.e., securing the blessings of survival, liberation, and creative self-expression for an entire community perennially at risk.”
"Rooted in Womanism, Dr. Rochelle Johnson has carved out a space for reckoning with what it means to be faithful to God, and yet still have to grapple with that same God about depression. I am thankful that Dr. Johnson has given us a theoretically sound and accessible resource for understanding what it takes to support Black women's holistic healing. The timing for this project could not be any better!"
“Much of diagnoses, assessment, and treatment plan in the care of Black women with depression glosses over the pervasive systemic roots that contribute to their distress. Therapies often born of the very systems that produce the trauma faced by these women are insufficient to deal with the totality of their issues. In this much needed addition to the field, Johnson artfully calls attention to the effects of historical trauma that has dogged the lives of Black bodies and ways in which these black female bodies navigate the oppressive systems but also how therapies can be evaluated and reshaped to provide optimum care for Black women dealing with depression.”
