As part of the global celebration of Men’s Health Month in November, charities and nonprofits are promoting initiatives aimed at bringing awareness to the global health crisis that is men’s mental health.
Mental health issues disproportionately affect men, especially when it comes to suicide and self harm.
In the U.S., four out of every five suicides are men, and globally at least one man dies every minute by suicide.
These figures are even more concerning in adolescent men; the Center for Disease Control reported in 2019 that 18.8% of adolescent boys in the U.S. had seriously considered suicide, and 8.9% had attempted suicide at least once.
The Jason Foundation, a youth suicide awareness group, estimates that 81% of youth suicide deaths are male or male-identifying.
These figures were released before the COVID-19 pandemic, and since then rates of mental disorders such as anxiety and depression have become vastly more prevalent.
The World Health Organization reports a 25% increase in the prevalence of these conditions worldwide in the year immediately following the pandemic.
So why do men account for such a vast majority of suicide?
For one, there has historically been a stigma surrounding not just men’s mental health, but the idea of speaking up about one’s struggles with suicidal ideation and depressive thoughts.
There are deeply entrenched social and cultural ideas of shame and weakness associated with those who hurt themselves or take their own lives, which originate in outdated thought processes that globally many still cling to.
Men in many cultures and environments feel as though they “aren’t allowed” to acknowledge their struggles, and that if they do, it’s somehow emasculating or shameful.
In a lot of cases, environments like these can make men feel like their masculinity is tied to stoicism and not showing emotion, often leading men to ignore their own emotional needs through fear that they’ll seem like less of a man and lose the respect of other men around them.
There are a number of steps you can take to help both your own mental health and that of those around you.
Firstly, while it may feel awkward and unnatural, talking to those around you if you’re struggling almost always helps.
Feeling overwhelmed or stressed about a particular issue is often caused simply by keeping it to yourself; talking to a friend or family member about it will almost always help to air it out and reduce anxiety you might feel surrounding it.
As well as this, it’s important that we try to make our male friends and loved ones feel as if they’re able to talk to us, and check in on them if we feel concerned about their behavior.
If you notice a friend struggling, talk to them about it; demonstrate to them that they’re not alone in whatever they’re facing.
History has imposed an idea of masculinity that dictates that men’s strength and inherent value is tied to their ability to act on their own, and as such many men feel ashamed to ask for help that they need.
So reach out, check in on friends you haven’t seen in a while, maintain connections and allow others to feel that they can come to you if they need help.
And that’s just it.
A massive part of the stigma that surrounds mental health comes from a deeply entrenched idea that men shouldn’t acknowledge their own or others’ mental health.
Having open and genuine conversations about mental health is how we tackle this; men shouldn’t feel like their mental health needs are unimportant or somehow not real.
It’s okay to be struggling, and it’s okay to need help, and our actions and interactions with our friends should reflect these facts.