Mental health issues in men
Depression in Men
Millions of men around the world suffer from depression, regardless their age or background. Unfortunately many men think it's a sign of weakness to seek support, with the serious consequence that the depression gets worse. When these feelings turn into despair one might commit suicide, so asking for help is crucially important.
Generally men are okay asking for help when they suffer from headaches, fatigue, loss of sex-drive, insomnia, feeling angry, irritable, or have back-pains. Yet these can be the physical symptoms of depression which need to be addressed in order to get well again.
Read more on our Depression in Men page [/depression-in-men].
Male Suicide
As previously mentioned, when men suffer from depression they can resort to committing suicide. Statistics show that male suicide happens approximately 5 times more often than female suicide. This is partly due to men being more successful in taking their lives compared to women, and it could also be related to the fact that men are less likely to speak with anyone about their depression or to seek help.
Read more about male suicide [/men-male-suicide] and male suicide rates [/male-suicide-rates-statistics-uk]
Anxiety in Men
Anxiety is a strong feeling of worry, nervousness, or being uneasy about something with an uncertain outcome. An anxious person can also be fearful, tense, on edge.
Anxiety and depression often go hand in hand. It's very important to get support for these conditions and learn how to deal with them. Relaxation and meditation techniques can be very helpful, and having someone to vent your troubles to can be life-saving.
Here is a list of factors which can contribute to developing anxiety in men:
Find out more about anxiety in men [/anxiety-in-men].
Stress in Men
Stress used to be a tool to help us survive. The rush of energy caused by hormones, like adrenaline and cortisol, helped us to fight or flight in life-threatening situations. Stress made us strong by rushing blood into our muscles and it made our brains super alert and focussed. To provide more fuel for energy, our blood sugar levels increased. To prevent blood loss from wounds or internal damage, blood quickly began to clot more. But how does stress influences us nowadays?
Read more about stress symptoms in men [/stress-symptoms-in-men].
Men and Anger
Just like stress, anger can either be useful or harmful. When there is a real threat, anger can protect you or your loved ones, because the hormones that are produced by anger, give you a feeling of super-strength, which overcomes the feeling of fear. On the other hand, if the level of anger is disproportionate to the treat, it can be very harmful.
Read our Men and Anger[/men-and-anger-issues] page for more on what causes men to get angry, how to manage the anger and what the connection is between anger and depression.
Male Psychology
The way male psychology works is determined by two major aspects: biology (hormones) and culture. Producing different ratios of hormones creates the significant difference between men and women, both physically and psychologically
Read more about male psychology [/male-psychology.html].
Men’s mental health statistics
Here are the statistics on men’s mental health, compiled by the Men’s Health Forum in 2016, and updated September 2017.
Summary:
Men’s mental health support
Mental help and support is available if you need it. There is no reason to try to struggle through on your own when there are plenty of experts available who can help you.
Go to our Helpline page[suicide-prevention-hotlines] to find lots of organisations that can help you.
Men’s mental health day / week
Mental health awareness week is from 14 – 20 May 2018. It starts every year on the second Monday in May.
For more info on the mental health day click here https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/world-mental-health-day-2018/
Men’s mental health charities
There a few of mental health charities who especially focus on men’s mental health issues.
In the United Kingdom:
[https://www.businessinsider.com.au/huge-black-white-gap-in-life-expectancy-in-us-2014-8?]
A report from the National Centre for Health Statistics [https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db125.pdf ] states that higher death rates among black people are due to:
Data from the US HHS Office of Minority Health reveals that:
Black/African Americans participating in this study were not very open to acknowledging psychological problems due to their negative view on psychological openness. 30% of participants reported having a mental illness of which some were receiving treatment for a mental illness.
Black men are very concerned about how they are perceived by their community. Being vulnerable as a man is labelled as weak. Having to pretend to be fearless and invincible has its negative effect on black men’s mental health. They often resort to drugs as means to cope better with life’s stresses.
According to the NAACP [http://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/] African Americans and whites use drugs at similar rates, but the imprisonment rate of African Americans for drug charges is almost 6 times that of whites. Once someone has a criminal record, finding a decent job becomes very difficult. The stress of poverty due to unemployment can easily push the person back into using drugs and/or dealing drugs.
How can we improve Black Men’s Mental Health?
What we need to do as a society, is getting everyone above the poverty line. We need to make sure all basic needs are met, including health insurance. We need to train black men as councillors and men’s group facilitators, to make support more accessible for black men with mental health problems. We need to have programs in schools to teach children that it’s OK to talk about your problems. “Man up” needs to be replaced with “Have the courage to talk about it”, to change the concept of what it means to be a man.
Millions of men around the world suffer from depression, regardless their age or background. Unfortunately many men think it's a sign of weakness to seek support, with the serious consequence that the depression gets worse. When these feelings turn into despair one might commit suicide, so asking for help is crucially important.
Generally men are okay asking for help when they suffer from headaches, fatigue, loss of sex-drive, insomnia, feeling angry, irritable, or have back-pains. Yet these can be the physical symptoms of depression which need to be addressed in order to get well again.
Read more on our Depression in Men page [/depression-in-men].
Male Suicide
As previously mentioned, when men suffer from depression they can resort to committing suicide. Statistics show that male suicide happens approximately 5 times more often than female suicide. This is partly due to men being more successful in taking their lives compared to women, and it could also be related to the fact that men are less likely to speak with anyone about their depression or to seek help.
Read more about male suicide [/men-male-suicide] and male suicide rates [/male-suicide-rates-statistics-uk]
Anxiety in Men
Anxiety is a strong feeling of worry, nervousness, or being uneasy about something with an uncertain outcome. An anxious person can also be fearful, tense, on edge.
Anxiety and depression often go hand in hand. It's very important to get support for these conditions and learn how to deal with them. Relaxation and meditation techniques can be very helpful, and having someone to vent your troubles to can be life-saving.
Here is a list of factors which can contribute to developing anxiety in men:
- Family and relationship problems, divorce
- Stress at work, job change or becoming unemployed
- A tendency to be perfectionist
- Change in living arrangements
- Becoming a dad
- Experiencing a traumatic event which caused a huge emotional shock
- Experiencing emotional or physical abuse
- The death or loss of a loved one
Find out more about anxiety in men [/anxiety-in-men].
Stress in Men
Stress used to be a tool to help us survive. The rush of energy caused by hormones, like adrenaline and cortisol, helped us to fight or flight in life-threatening situations. Stress made us strong by rushing blood into our muscles and it made our brains super alert and focussed. To provide more fuel for energy, our blood sugar levels increased. To prevent blood loss from wounds or internal damage, blood quickly began to clot more. But how does stress influences us nowadays?
Read more about stress symptoms in men [/stress-symptoms-in-men].
Men and Anger
Just like stress, anger can either be useful or harmful. When there is a real threat, anger can protect you or your loved ones, because the hormones that are produced by anger, give you a feeling of super-strength, which overcomes the feeling of fear. On the other hand, if the level of anger is disproportionate to the treat, it can be very harmful.
Read our Men and Anger[/men-and-anger-issues] page for more on what causes men to get angry, how to manage the anger and what the connection is between anger and depression.
Male Psychology
The way male psychology works is determined by two major aspects: biology (hormones) and culture. Producing different ratios of hormones creates the significant difference between men and women, both physically and psychologically
Read more about male psychology [/male-psychology.html].
Men’s mental health statistics
Here are the statistics on men’s mental health, compiled by the Men’s Health Forum in 2016, and updated September 2017.
Summary:
- 76 % of all suicides are by men. For men under 35, suicide is the biggest cause of death.
- 12.5% of men in the UK are affected by a common mental health disorder.
- 8.7% of men are addicted to alcohol compared to 3.3% of women (Health and Social Care Information Centre).
- Men are more likely to use illegal drugs and die from using them.
- Only 36% of referrals to IAPT (Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies) are men. This shows that men are less likely to utilize psychological therapies than women.
Men’s mental health support
Mental help and support is available if you need it. There is no reason to try to struggle through on your own when there are plenty of experts available who can help you.
Go to our Helpline page[suicide-prevention-hotlines] to find lots of organisations that can help you.
Men’s mental health day / week
Mental health awareness week is from 14 – 20 May 2018. It starts every year on the second Monday in May.
For more info on the mental health day click here https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/world-mental-health-day-2018/
Men’s mental health charities
There a few of mental health charities who especially focus on men’s mental health issues.
In the United Kingdom:
- < > [https://www.thecalmzone.net/] The Black Dog [www.theblackdog.net]
- < > [https://uk.movember.com/mens-health/mental-health]Mens Health Forum [https://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/male-health/]
- The Eaton Foundation [http://www.theeatonfoundation.org.uk/] (This is for men 18+ years who live in East Staffordshire and surrounding areas.)
[https://www.businessinsider.com.au/huge-black-white-gap-in-life-expectancy-in-us-2014-8?]
A report from the National Centre for Health Statistics [https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db125.pdf ] states that higher death rates among black people are due to:
- Heart disease
- Homicide and
- Events in the period immediately before and after birth (events in relation to social inequality such as lower levels of education for the parents, poverty, mental and physical health of the mother due to racism etc)
Data from the US HHS Office of Minority Health reveals that:
- Living below poverty causes serious psychological distress.
- Adult Black Americans are more likely to have feelings of hopelessness, sadness,and worthlessness than adult whites.
- As teenagers, Black/African Americans are less likely to die than white people from suicide, but compared to white teenagers they are more likely to attempt suicide. (8.3 percent v. 6.2 percent).
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is more likely to occur in black people because of the increased likelihood to be exposed to violent crimes.
Black/African Americans participating in this study were not very open to acknowledging psychological problems due to their negative view on psychological openness. 30% of participants reported having a mental illness of which some were receiving treatment for a mental illness.
Black men are very concerned about how they are perceived by their community. Being vulnerable as a man is labelled as weak. Having to pretend to be fearless and invincible has its negative effect on black men’s mental health. They often resort to drugs as means to cope better with life’s stresses.
According to the NAACP [http://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/] African Americans and whites use drugs at similar rates, but the imprisonment rate of African Americans for drug charges is almost 6 times that of whites. Once someone has a criminal record, finding a decent job becomes very difficult. The stress of poverty due to unemployment can easily push the person back into using drugs and/or dealing drugs.
How can we improve Black Men’s Mental Health?
What we need to do as a society, is getting everyone above the poverty line. We need to make sure all basic needs are met, including health insurance. We need to train black men as councillors and men’s group facilitators, to make support more accessible for black men with mental health problems. We need to have programs in schools to teach children that it’s OK to talk about your problems. “Man up” needs to be replaced with “Have the courage to talk about it”, to change the concept of what it means to be a man.