Danuqah struggled with mental illness, alone, for so long. Once she found a friend who also suffered from depression, she had someone to turn to who genuinely understood what she was going through, but it took most of her life to find her. Mental illness can be so isolating, especially when you don’t know of others who are also struggling. This is why so many black individuals “suffer alone;” they are unaware that there are “others like [them]” (184). From being silenced earlier in life and growing up thinking she was alone, Danuqah started to silence her struggles with depression herself. Even just the reassurance that she wasn’t alone, that there was at least one other person going through a similar situation would have been so beneficial to Danquah. This line on page 184 reveals part of why Danuqah decided to write a memoir about her struggles with mental illness. Danquah wanted to both share her story so that she didn’t have to “suffer alone” anymore, and simultaneously reassure those in the black community who were also struggling with depression that they in fact were not “suffering alone” (184). There were finally people in their community who were like them that they could look up to.
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