Many African Americans experience low-grade depression, referred to as dysthymia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). After more than 250 years of enslavement, prejudice, and discrimination, dysthymia is reflected in chronic low-grade sadness, anger, hostility, aggression, self-hatred, hopelessness, and self-destructive behaviors. To avoid misdiagnosis, counselors need to understand how cultural factors can elicit a collective psychological condition in an oppressed group. (Contains 1 table.)