“Their Depression Is Something Different . . . It Would Have to Be”

Abstract

This study reports findings from the Black Women’s Perceptions of Black Men’s Depression (BWP) study, which included eight focus groups with Black women ( N = 46) from southeastern Michigan. Four themes illustrated the impressions of Black women from different socioeconomic backgrounds: Black men’s depression is a cultured and gendered phenomenon, the role of Black women in Black men’s depression, intergenerational differences with how depression is handled by Black men, and the need (and ways) to reach Black men with depression resources. Results underscore not only the importance of understanding the kind of depression in Black men that meets criteria described by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM ) but also the psychological distress that may coexist with (or be separate from) DSM depression. Implications for interventions that educate, diagnose, and treat depression in Black men are discussed.