Saving Our Last Nerve: The African American Woman's Path to Mental Health [Paperback]

Marilyn Martin (Author), M D Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2002

This guide offers advice for helping African-American women handle the stresses of everyday life and anticipate and prepare for long-term mental health. Also included are tips for negotiating the mental health system and understanding various types of treatments, as well as advice for instilling good health habits in the next generation.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The last nerve is the breaking point many people refer to when stress has pressed them to the limit. Martin, a psychiatrist, explores the particular stresses faced by black women and how they can maintain mental and emotional balance, and find peace of mind. Martin cites statistics on the rise in suicide among black people, and their reluctance to seek professional help because of a historic distrust of the medical establishment and concerns about adding another potential stigma on top of race. Using case studies, Martin broadly analyzes sources of everyday stress and coping mechanisms and resources, including friends, family, church, other social and spiritual organizations, and occasionally medication and professional counseling. She offers guidelines on how to take inventory of mental health, exercises on managing stress, and when and how to seek professional help. While culturally specific to black women, this is a helpful resource for readers seeking guidance on maintaining emotional balance. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Rodrigo Muñ oz, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist in private practice in San Diego, California. He is the past president of the San Diego Medical Society and the American Psychiatric Association. He is currently a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and a director at Mercy Hospital, San Diego. Marilyn Martin, MD, is a public health physician and psychoanalyst practicing in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the author of "Saving Your Last Nerve: The Black Woman's Path to Mental Health,"

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Hilton Publishing; 1 edition (May 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 096752587X
• ISBN-13: 978-0967525877
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,504,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Describes mental health issues for Black women, November 1, 2002

By 

Marianne Levin (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saving Our Last Nerve: The African American Woman's Path to Mental Health (Paperback)

This is an extremely helpful book in understanding mental health issues and appropriate treatment resources for Black women. Anyone who is a Black woman, works with or has relationships with Black women, or wishes to better understand the psyches of Black women will find this book illuminating.

Dr. Martin's language is simple (a compliment) and straightforward and her case illustrations easily remind us of ourselves or women we have known. She is direct yet gentle in describing the resistances of Black women to treatment, the need for treatment, and how to best use treatment (even if the mental health professional is not Black--only 2% of all psychiatrists inthis country are Black), p124

Dr. Martin brings to this book an optimism that life can be better, that "saving that last nerve, requires struggle by both spirit and mind. Simplifying that journey is what this book is all about." (p1) And she accomplishes this goal with simple but accurate descriptions of mental disorders and the internal stresses thus imposed on external stresses.

However, Dr. Martin has a holistic approach to Black women, recognizing not only the stresses and strengths in terms of emotional functioning, but also in terms of physical well-being and enhancing physical well-being).

This book fills an important void in presenting mental health information about Black women and can easily be utilized for both personal and professional purposes.

A very special bonus in this book are the lists of books (fiction as well as non-fiction) and movies assembled by Dr. Martin.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every African American Woman Needs To Run To Get This Book!!, February 19, 2003

By 

SisterDivas.org "Tonya Howard" (Shon Bacon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saving Our Last Nerve: The African American Woman's Path to Mental Health (Paperback)

Saving Our Last Nerve: The African American Woman`s Path to Mental Health, by Marilyn Martin, M.D., M.P.H.

Rating: 5 Stars

Wow, what a great great great and needed piece of work. African American women are busier than ever, faced with more and more responsibilities and challenges. Our stress level has risen tremendously.

Dr. Marilyn Martin has put together a resourceful mental health book. The book is filled with stories (which people can relate to), charts, diagrams, medical terminology, and exercise. She keeps the readers involved and grab their attention while taking the journey through her mental health guide.

This guide shows the African American woman how to cope with their stress, without suppressing it and ignoring it. Marilyn Martin also let's the reader know when it's beyond self and the person need to utilize outside professionals, such as counselors and physicians.

If you have not purchased this guide and you know or are an African American woman, you should do so today. This book can be entertaining as well. Yes, we can learn while entertained and I truly believe Dr. Martin has done this. When you first get the book, you may not intend to read a lot in one sitting, however you will find yourself getting wrapped up in the pages and becoming hungry for more. This is something you need to keep by your bedside to refer to at least once a week.

To Dr Marilyn Martin, M.D., M.P.H. what a job well done.

Tonya Howard, SisterDivas.org

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saving that Last Nerve, July 1, 2003

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saving Our Last Nerve: The African American Woman's Path to Mental Health (Paperback)

In our society, mental instability is looked at as taboo; something to hide behind and definitely not to address with your family and friends, much less seeing a therapist. It is because of these views that many women don't get the guidance and/or support they need when faced with the frailties of the human psyche. In an entertaining, yet informative approach, Dr. Marilyn Martin gives us SAVING OUR LAST NERVE: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN'S PATH TO MENTAL HEALTH.

Combined with exercises, diagrams, case studies, and statistics, SAVING OUR LAST NERVE is a wonderful resource! It helps us to realize that there are numerous resources out there that can help improve our emotional lives. In addition, it shows how to remove and minimize stress in your life in order to live more peacefully. Not only did I like Dr. Martin's teachings, I also enjoyed that she opened each chapter with an African Proverb. This book will definitely come in handy for all those who have ever told someone... "you're working my last nerve" and even for those who want to know how to keep from getting to that point.

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers