Book excerpt: "Strong on the Outside, Dying on the Inside is a wonderfully written tribute to faith, courage, hope and healing." Don't be fooled by the small size of this book. In it, Lisa Brown packs a powerful message of liberation: With the help of God and qualified professionals, Black women can break free from depression. A successful businesswoman in Washington, D.C., Lisa uses her own experience and the Biblical story of Hannah to shed light on the unspoken sadness that plagues so many Black women today. With the energy, humor and compassion of a close girlfriend, she describes the signs of depression and charts a way out. Depression is an equal-opportunity illness. But Black women - especially those who consider themselves strong - are particularly reluctant to seek help: Only 12 percent of those affected receive treatment. Why this resistance? Citing contemporary experts, Lisa points to reasons rooted in African American culture: the widespread belief that depression is nothing more than a bad attitude, a case of the blues, or a sign of personal weakness. Emotional needs are not easily acknowledged by women who have been the backbone of their communities while enduring the harsh realities of slavery, bigotry and bias. What's more, many of these God-fearing, church-going women may resign themselves to depression, accepting their sadness as a fact of life that God, the church and their families expect them to bear. Lisa rejects that interpretation, reminding Black women that God offers them both joy and peace. She urges readers to draw on their inner strength not to deny depression, but to face and overcome it. Lisa calls herself "a living testimony to the value of good therapy and God's undeniable ability to heal depression." In these pages, she reaches out to strong Black women, inviting them to embrace the same blessing and recover a life of promise and purpose. www.strongontheoutside.com