Black Woman Grief by Natasha Smith

Author:Natasha Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Black women;black woman;grief;grieving;trauma;loss;racism;racial trauma;feminism;god's kingdom;christian living;black church;African American women;black mothers;black sons;black grief;police brutality;black mental health;black counselors
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2024-10-30T09:08:06+00:00

Intrusive thoughts or memories about the event

Nightmares or flashbacks about the event

Intrusive feelings of guilt or shame

Feeling “on edge” or easily startled

Problems sleeping

Difficulties concentrating

Irritability or outbursts of anger

Sufferers of emotional trauma may also turn to alcohol or drugs to cope with their symptoms.4

Do any of these signs resonate with you? I’ve started keeping a running list. I completed an assessment several years ago that mapped out traumatic events in my life. So many of the events happened before I even entered my early twenties. I carried these traumas into adulthood and have only started processing them over the past four years or so.

Bessel van der Kolk writes in his book The Body Keeps the Score, “Nobody can ‘treat’ away abuse, rape, molestation, or any other horrendous event, for that matter; what has happened cannot be undone. But what can be dealt with are the imprints of the trauma on the body, mind, and soul . . . trauma robs you of the feeling that you are in charge of yourself.”5

Further, Van der Kolk says,

The challenge of recovery is to reestablish ownership of your body and your mind—of yourself. This means feeling free to know what you know and to feel what you feel without becoming overwhelmed, enraged, ashamed, or collapsed. For most people, this involves:

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