Struggles to contain black feelings (5)
I believe the answer is:
vibes
'feelings' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'struggles to contain black' is the wordplay.
'struggles' becomes 'vies' (I've seen this in other clues).
'to contain' indicates putting letters inside.
'black' becomes 'b' (as in pencil classifications).
'vies' placed around 'b' is 'VIBES'.
(Other definitions for vibes that I've seen before include "Feelings that seem to emanate" , "Feelings emanating from a person or place" , "Emotional stimuli and communicatons" , "Percussion instrument similar to a xylophone" , "Informal mental or emotional communications" .)