Lay My Burden Down: Unraveling Suicide and the Mental Health Crisis among African-Americans [Hardcover]

Alvin F. Poussaint (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

Suicide is now the third leading cause of death among Black males ages 15-19, after homicide and accidents. Although lifestyles in many cases differ dramatically, there have been no studies to determine whether or not the risk factors among African-Americans differ significantly from those of whites. These startling statistics demonstrate a real crisis in America's social landscape, and more specifically in our health care system. Leading child psychologist and co-author of the classic RAISING BLACK CHILDREN, Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint and award-winning journalist Amy Alexander, both of whom have lost siblings to suicide, offer LAY MY BURDEN DOWN as a serious and urgent response to a national medical emergency. Beginning with a concise analysis of the often troubled realtionship between African-Americans and a white medical establishment, Poussaint and Alexander trace the culturual factors that inhibit Blacks from seeking any type of medical treatment, let alone the much stigmatized mental health care, and the lack of a concerted response by white health care professionals. Most importantly, however, they ask us to look again at drug abuse, gang-banging, and the increase in HIV not as issues of poverty, but instead as medical/mehtal health issues--suggesting that they are in fact examples of suicide attempts that have never before been evaluated as such. Intervention is possible, and Poussaint and Alexander cite a number of ways that our national health care system and health care professionals may offer help, while noting the programs and policies that have already begun to make a difference.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a much needed cultural wake-up call, Poussaint, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and Alexander, a journalist and editor, present the startling revelation that suicides among black youth jumped 114% from 1980 to 1995. From its unsentimental opening showing the decline of two promising young men who fatally succumbed to the burden of mental illness, drug abuse and racism, this book seeks to unravel the puzzle of increasing despair and depression among black youth. The authors begin by showing how poor, sometimes even cruel, treatment of African-Americans by the health-care establishment has alienated many black people, even though their children may need care for self-destructive and suicidal behavior. Having both lost younger brothers to suicide, Poussaint and Alexander know suicide's pain and finality first-hand, and how it can be as sudden and abrupt as a gunshot to the head or as lengthy and extended as heroin addiction or alcoholism. Using case histories and interviews, their book puts a human face on the act of suicide, while employing current research data to discuss the narrowing gap between black and white suicide rates. Eager to dispatch the old stereotype of "the blues and poverty" as leading causes of suicide among African-Americans, the authors insist it also occurs among blacks who are educated, productive and successful, due to the psychological stress of working daily in a white setting. Poussaint and Alexander conclude their well-documented discussion of the crisis with clear-eyed recommendations for how society can curb the soaring number of African-American suicides. Agents, Lori Perkins and Ike Williams.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Though grounded in the statistic that the suicide rate of young African American men has more than doubled during the relatively affluent years since 1980, this book ventures into much wider territory. Poussaint (psychiatry, Harvard Medical Sch.) and journalist Alexander (editor, The Farrakhan Factor) have both experienced suicide in their families. They share their stories and relate case studies as well as statistical evidence, a research review, and a powerful, policy-oriented analysis of the social, cultural, and historical factors that cause deficiencies in the healthcare of African Americans. Their coverage of black suicide and other self-destructive behavior suggests that the topics are under-researched and that a national dialog on mental healthcare is needed. The book concludes with a valuable descriptive list of suicide-related web sites. A stimulating work on important issues, this book is recommended for African American studies and mental health collections.DAntoinette Brinkman, Southwest Indiana Mental Health Ctr. Lib., Evansville
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press; 1St Edition edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807009601
• ISBN-13: 978-0807009604
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,637,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quiet destruction, July 4, 2001

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Linda C. Jennings "ennui50" (Chicago, ILLINOIS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lay My Burden Down: Unraveling Suicide and the Mental Health Crisis among African-Americans (Hardcover)

Drs. Poussaint and Alexander poises thought provoking questions on the rise of African American suicides especially among young males. The authors states, if African Americans endured over three centuries of slavery and Jim Cow laws without succumbing to hopelessness and self negation, why is their a surge in suicides today? Is crime and poverty, (the catalysts of hopelessness) contributing to the demise of young African American males? Is the participation of young African Americans in drug and alcohol abuse, unsafe sex, a form suicide, related to unfulled dreams and a feeling of hoplessness? The authors set out to answer these questions in the context of the pervasiveness of racism, which greatly contributes to a "mental health crisis" which is tightening its grip among young African Americans.