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13 - Improving Black Women’s Physical Health and Wellness

from Part IV - Helping Black Women Recover and Thrive

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2023

Donna Baptiste  and
Adia Gooden
By
Kimlin Tam Ashing
Donna Baptiste
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Illinois
Adia Gooden
Affiliation:
Unconditionally Worthy, Co.
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Summary

Black women suffer from higher mortality rates and experience heart disease, breast cancer, and other health issues at different levels than White women. Additionally, Black women commonly experience somatic symptoms related to mental health issues, and therapists can help women understand and address the connection between their physical and psychological health and wellness. In this chapter, we offer suggestions and tools to help therapists raise women’s health literacy, their awareness about mind–emotion–body connections, and provide strategies Black women can use for stress management to improve physical and mental wellness.

Keywords

healthwellnessmedicineself-caresomaticsleep
Type
Chapter
Information
Promoting Black Women's Mental Health
What Practitioners Should Know and Do
 , pp. 311 - 335
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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