Vitals

According to a 1996 National Mental Health Assn. poll, 63% of African Americans believe depression to be a personal weakness (compared to 54% of all survey respondents). Only 31% believed depression to be a health problem. And only one in four considered changes in sleeping and eating patterns to be potential signs of depression.

“Depression and African Americans: Not Just the Blues,” a new brochure offered by the NMHA in partnership with the National Council of Negro Women, is an effort to address misperceptions about depressive illness within the black community. The free brochure explains what clinical depression is and how it can be treated.

For a copy, call the NMHA at (800) 969-6642 or the association’s Campaign on Clinical Depression at (800) 228-1114.