It dawned on John Campbell Jr. one day that he had stopped smiling.

Feelings of gloom and anger had shadowed him for some time. He found his anger intensifying after cancer ended his mother’s life at age 43, his marriage failed, and an 11-year-old daughter and adult step-son died. As if all that were not enough, there was the discrimination he regularly endured as an African-American man living and working in Iowa.

But it was more than anger eating away at Campbell, 51. It was a formidable adversary that affects an estimated 24 million adults in the United States – depression.

“It bent him, but it didn’t break him,” said Ann Bell, whom Campbell considers a second mother.

Dealing with Stigma

Campbell, political director for United Steelworkers Union District 11, mentioned his depression recently during a meeting of the Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans, which he also serves as vice chairman. He explained why some blacks don’t seek help for depression.

“It did have a stigma,” Campbell said about his own efforts. “But it also had a sense of urgency. You know something is not right. You have to attempt to fix it. You go to a car mechanic for a car. My behavior wasn’t what I wanted and wasn’t getting me to where I wanted to be.”

But some blacks balk at seeking professional help from a mental health expert or taking medication for a mental health disorder, Campbell and others said.

Some blacks might say, “What the hell you going to see a therapist for? What the hell are they going to tell you that you don’t know already? You’re going to get better by talking to somebody?” Campbell said.

Mental Health of America is a national nonprofit group that promotes mental wellness. The organization, which has local affiliates in Dubuque, Webster City and the Sioux City area, has a special section for blacks on its website at http://www.mentalhea…

Myths in the black community can serve as barriers to treatment for depression, including a belief that if blacks could survive slavery, they can survive anything; that depression is a sign of weakness in black women who are supposed to be strong, and that it’s better to rely upon religion when times are tough, instead of a mental health professional, according to the website.

Campbell has heard the myths before. Myths can keep people mired in pain.

There’s the attitude that “it’s just life,” he said.

“It just happens. That’s the way it is. You just deal with it. That’s what black folks do. We rise above it,” he said. “Some people find solace in the church and get strength that way.”

But treatment, not church, has helped Campbell, he said.

What is depression?

Mental health disorders are common in the United States and elsewhere. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older suffer from a mental disorder in any given year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

An estimated 7 percent of Iowans experienced major depression in 2005, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

John Curtis is president of the Mental Health America of Dubuque County. The retired licensed psychologist worked for the Gannon Center for Community Mental Health for 20 years.

“Sometimes people describe depression as going into a pit,” Curtis said. “Having no way out. No options.”

The symptoms of depression can include the following, Curtis said: