On Fresh Air this week, we took on the urgent mental health criss among black men and boys. Host Tonya Mosely spoke with actor Courtney B. Vance and psychologist Dr. Robin Smith about their new book on the topic, The Invisible Ache. Dr. Smith says black men and boys are up against historical racial trauma, in addition to the current nationwide epidemic of loneliness and isolation. In fact, she says, according to the CDC, the rate of suicide is "accelerating faster than any other group in the United States." Courtney B. Vance lost both his father and his godson to suicide. He has spent his life trying to understand the pain his father suffered in silence, and to heal the generational trauma."We're talking about the ache [of] black men and young boys, but we have to go back to slavery and how we are all connected," Vance says. "If I'm aching, you clutching your purse as I walk by, you're aching. You're as much in a prison as I am."

This interview originally aired November 15, 2023.

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