AROUND THE ABPsi
The New PsychDiscourse
By: Shareefah Al’ Uqdah, Ph.D, Psychdiscourse Editor In Chief Before and throughout Covid-19, ABPsi has held a special place for Black psychologists. Since our founding, ABPsi has created ways to galvanize and inform the community of unique issues relevant to Black people’s mental health. One way in which ABPsi communicated […]
Pressure
An African-centered Education Remedy
Too often, American schools pour Eurocentric values into the minds of Black students through curricula, culture, and policies. Dr. Carter G. Woodson recognized the education system’s shortcomings in 1926 and created Negro History Week. One week of highlighting Black achievement evolved into Black History Month. Next month, we commemorate 100 […]
Research Corner
WISDOMBEARERS: A Study of Proverb Use and Values Among African American Elders
By: Huberta Jackson-LowmanJustin WilliamsChrista JohnsonStephanie BarnesJasmine PlummerEarnestine RichardsonFlorida A&M University ABSTRACT This study investigated knowledge and use of proverbs, values associated with proverb use, and proverb prioritization among Afrikan American elders 60 years of age and older. Forty elders living in retirement homes in the southeastern part of the country […]
RECENT POSTS
Breaking the Silence Around Suicide: Centering Black Youth’s Mental Wellness through Ubuntu
A Tragic Loss that Shattered a Myth Last summer, my family suffered the tragic loss of one of its youngest members. My niece died by suicide just over a month after her 16th birthday. Her untimely death has left many unanswered questions and unresolved grief. It has also been the […]
A Reflection on Bipolar from an Ancestral Psycho-Spiritual Perspective ft. Mama Ntozake Shange
The Western world historically has viewed intense emotional expressions as “lunacy”, where moon energy and emotions were portrayed as dangerously irrational, being out of touch with reality, and even evil.
Trauma Bonds, Liberation, and the Black Female Nervous System
An African-Centered Framework for Healing and Family Restoration The relational experiences of Black women cannot be understood outside of the historical, neurobiological, and structural forces that have shaped the Black family across generations. Trauma bonding, relational instability, and attachment disruption within Black relationships are often interpreted through individualistic or pathologizing […]
Reclaiming the African Spirit: Black Women, Joy, and Collective Wellness
Living within a society that denies their beauty, power, and existence, Black women can find that recognizing their own joy is an act of resistance. However, Black joy and the African spirit are survival practices perfected under slavery. Throughout generations, Black joy has persisted through both covert and overt acts […]
The Unmasking: From Performing Excellence to Healing Purpose
For nearly two decades, I approached my federal career through the lens of a survivor. I was a dedicated employee who was very skilled at “fitting in” every room where I was the only one who looked like me. I made conscious decisions to carefully choose how I spoke, how […]
Being Spirit: Part One
Being Spirit is the requisite alchemizing essence for the restoration of African ascendant people. In the modern world, the word spirit has multiple connotations. In a colloquial sense, it conjures notions of a dark, hauntingly unknown, ghostly entity. In another sense, it is understood as the psychic presence or soul […]
African American Mental Health: Mindful Ways to Manage Mental Health In the New Year
The holiday season is often portrayed as a time of laughter, love, and togetherness. Yet, for many African Americans, it can also be a season shadowed by unique stressors—including racial trauma, financial strain, and the emotional weight of systemic injustice (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2025). Scholars […]
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