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  • Article

How the mental health system fails Black people

Accessing mental healthcare as a Black woman can be a challenging experience. Rianna Walcott shares her story, alongside those of three other women, to reveal the barriers she faced.

  • Article

Don’t call me a strong Black woman

Her upbringing taught Jaydee Seaforth that she could never show pain or weakness, even when her internal distress was extreme. Find out how she learned to listen to her body.

  • Article

Religion and mental health

At a time of extreme distress, Jamila Pereira found that the faith she had relied on was failing her. Here she describes how she found other ways to begin healing and finding happiness.

  • Article

What Black women do when the NHS fails them

Sabrina-Maria Anderson explores misogynoir – hatred of Black women – within the NHS, and how women like her are consequently turning to other sources of medical support.

All stories (81)

Images

  • A man in a suit smiling with one finger raised, advocating use of condoms for gay men; an advertisement for safe sex by the Authority of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, Hamburg and the Office of Public Health - Health Promotion / AIDS. Colour lithograph by Transglobe Black Box and DMB&B.
  • A woman holds a syringe as if smoking a cigarette watched by a black man in a green tracksuit and another in a grey dinner suit; warning about drugs, needle-sharing and safe sex practices to prevent AIDS by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for AIDS Education. Colour lithograph.
  • A nurse with one finger raised and the message: 'Wer's im Urlaub ohne treibt, ist im Kopf nicht ganz gescheit' [Whoever goes on holiday unprepared is not clever in the head]; an advertisement for safe sex by the Authority of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, Hamburg and the Office of Public Health - Health Promotion / AIDS. Colour lithograph by Transglobe Black Box and DMB&B.
  • A man with a moustache points his finger with the message: 'Ohne gummi auf den Strich, so was tut Mann lieber nicht! [Without rubber/condoms on the streets, so what do men prefer no to!]; an advertisement for safe sex by the Authority of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, Hamburg and the Office of Public Health - Health Promotion / AIDS. Colour lithograph by Transglobe Black Box and DMB&B.
  • Senna corymbosa (Lam.)H.S.Irwin&Barneby Caesalpinaceae. Argentine Senna. Distribution: Argentine (other species from Europe). This beautiful shrub that flowers from midsummer until the frosts of winter, is the source of one of the best known of all herbal medicines – Senokot (and senna pods and senna tea), introduced to European medicine (as Senna alexandrina from Egypt) by the Arabians. Every part of the plant contains anthraquinones which, if taken internally, act as a powerful laxative to treat constipation by stimulating the nerve cells of the large bowel. Gerard (1633) notes ‘it is a singular purging medicine’ with over a page on its uses. When used regularly the nerves to the large bowel may be destroyed, leaving a permanently dilated large bowel that never functions properly again. This is a plant which causes the condition it treats to become permanent. Additionally, with prolonged use, the lining of the bowel turns black, serum potassium levels may fall, resulting in cardiac irregularities and sometimes death. Coma, neuropathy and hepatitis have also been reported. It is advertised on television (the actor involved is seen to be depressed and bloated until she takes Senokot, after which she is happy - Hippocrates would have attributed this antidepressant effect to the plant's ability to purge her of the black melancholic humour present in her bowel motions). It is available without prescription or health warning against long-term use. What do you think? Lyte (1578) recommends it strongly for depression, but one might claim to be cured rather than take it again. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Senna corymbosa (Lam.)H.S.Irwin&Barneby Caesalpinaceae. Argentine Senna. Distribution: Argentine (other species from Europe). This beautiful shrub that flowers from midsummer until the frosts of winter, is the source of one of the best known of all herbal medicines – Senokot (and senna pods and senna tea), introduced to European medicine (as Senna alexandrina from Egypt) by the Arabians. Every part of the plant contains anthraquinones which, if taken internally, act as a powerful laxative to treat constipation by stimulating the nerve cells of the large bowel. Gerard (1633) notes ‘it is a singular purging medicine’ with over a page on its uses. When used regularly the nerves to the large bowel may be destroyed, leaving a permanently dilated large bowel that never functions properly again. This is a plant which causes the condition it treats to become permanent. Additionally, with prolonged use, the lining of the bowel turns black, serum potassium levels may fall, resulting in cardiac irregularities and sometimes death. Coma, neuropathy and hepatitis have also been reported. It is advertised on television (the actor involved is seen to be depressed and bloated until she takes Senokot, after which she is happy - Hippocrates would have attributed this antidepressant effect to the plant's ability to purge her of the black melancholic humour present in her bowel motions). It is available without prescription or health warning against long-term use. What do you think? Lyte (1578) recommends it strongly for depression, but one might claim to be cured rather than take it again. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Caution against sexually transmitted disease. Colour lithograph after A. Games, 1941.
  • Junior cat care manual / Cats Protection League.
  • Junior cat care manual / Cats Protection League.
  • Junior cat care manual / Cats Protection League.
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