By Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett author of Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Woman's Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic, and Fear

Whether it is discrimination, prejudice, or another stressor, Black women appear to handle stress somewhat differently from men or white women. Men are more likely to do battle with whoever or whatever is causing stress, or they simply remove themselves from the situation. White women seem more likely to find stress relief by devoting time to their children or seeking support and friendship from others. Stress researchers call this a "tend and befriend" response. Black women's stress responses are intriguing; we tend, befriend, mend, and keep it in. As Black women we have, as Toni Morrison so eloquently puts it, "invented ourselves." Much of what we have invented to define ourselves as Black women has been resourceful and productive. We are loyal and loving. Many of us know how to persist and persevere. We are creative and have vast experience making a way out of no way. Without a doubt, Black women are the most resilient members of the human race. To paraphrase Maya Angelou, when you try to keep us down, stilt we rise. This ability to rise against overwhelming odds leads to the concept of the Strong Black Woman.

There are many positives to being a Strong Black Woman. We are ingenious, confident, sassy, and bold. By the same token there are drawbacks, perhaps the biggest being that many women who see themselves as Strong Black Women will keep on keeping on even when they know they should stop. It is as if we feel that to acknowledge we are stressed out or need to rest is akin to giving up membership in the Strong Black Woman club. The opposite of strong is weak, and to pair the words weak and Black woman is to create an oxymoron. In the minds of many Blacks and Whites, a weak Black woman simply does not exist. Rather than being seen as less than she is supposed to be, a Strong Black Woman refuses to admit she is stressed and keeps her feelings and emotions bottled up inside while she helps everyone else. This strategy makes the Strong Black Woman an excellent candidate for the development of anxiety.

Several years ago I conducted a study where self-identified Strong Black Women -- women who told us that being strong was an important part of who they were -- filled out a diary detailing their activities and emotions. At the same time their blood pressure and heart rate were being monitored. This was done for an entire day. In the diaries the women did not admit to being stressed, even in stressful situations. Mario wrote, "Had to fire S. today. She didn't take it very well." Firing someone is a stressful situation. Yet the only emotion Mario indicated that she experienced was calm. But her blood pressure and heart rate readings told a different story. When firing S., Mario's blood pressure increased by fifteen points, and a 20-point increase was seen in her heart rate. She wasn't the only one. Almost every woman in the study exhibited the same pattern. Either these women could not admit to being stressed, or they were unaware they were stressed. Interviews indicated that women were aware of their stress level; they were just unwilling to admit it was problematic. Several said to me, "Baby, I don't have time to think about that mess. If I did, I'd be stressed out about everything."

Yet taking the time out to acknowledge the stress and do something about it would go a long way toward preventing the development of serious anxiety and the health problems associated with it: chronic upper respiratory infections, hypertension, heart disease, and obesity.

Copyright 2003 Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett