Can I Get a Witness?, by Julia A. Boyd. (1998)
With the intimacy, insight and wisdom that have won her a loyal following, psychotherapist Julia A. Boyd sounds a wake-up call about an issue of major importance: Black women and depression. Studies show that one in five women suffers from depression, but many don’t recognize the signs and so don’t report their symptoms to their doctors. With Can I Get a Witness?, Boyd gives witness to the tragedies that result, and to the fact that recovery from the “beast” is possible. Boyd draws from a wealth of experience–her own battles with depression and those cases in her “sister circle”–to take a hard and honest look at the signs and the options for healing. By relying on the voices of her sisters, Boyd lays bare a multiplicity of truths about the faces of depression–helplessness, dissatisfaction, illness, loss, addiction, anger–and offers strategies for tough times, exercises for recovery, and answers to the most often asked questions.