6 common barriers men face when seeking mental health support

  • 📰 PGCitizen
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 94 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 41%
  • Publisher: 51%

Health Health Headlines News

Health Health Latest News,Health Health Headlines

The outward effects of mental illness can often be dismissed as a sign of weakness or personal failure.

For men, this type of social stereotyping can be especially hard to escape—being told to “man up” is a common refrain that can be reductive and stigmatizing.

What keeps men from seeking mental health support has deep roots in both traditional gender roles and societal attitudes about masculinity. Ro consulted studies from scientific and medical journals to identify six common barriers men face when seeking support for mental health challenges. Men are more likely to self-medicate before seeking help According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, men are more likely than women to misuse illicit drugs, including illegal and prescription drugs. They’re also more likely to need emergency room care after illicit drug use—and more likely to experience overdose deaths.

A 2011 study published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior found that men with strong beliefs about traditional masculinity were half as likely as those with more moderate masculine beliefs to seek preventive health care checkups that could help detect preventable diseases. Men who buy into traditionally masculine stereotypes also have a much higher likelihood of holding negative attitudes about seeking mental health services.

In recent years, research has looked more closely at how men show symptoms of depression and other forms of mental illness. Ronald Levant, former president of the American Psychological Association, coined the term “normative male alexithymia” to encapsulate men’s difficulties with expressing emotion, which is seen as a contributor to depression and a barrier to treatment.

And as for older men as a whole, treatment for various other diseases, such as cancer or heart disease, can often mask or distract from symptoms of depression. Many medications, including steroids, certain cancer treatments, and opioids, can cause depression as a side effect. So it can be hard to tell if the increased rate of depressive symptoms were already there, or are coming from medication use.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

Can you tell me what happened to Grand Chief Edward John's sex assault court case I bet he walked free.

My wife called two weeks ago for help for me to the psychiatrist office at GR Baker in Quesnel. My wife told them I was suicidal and needed to see the Dr again asap about my meds. She told my wife I would have to wait until October. How's that for a fuckin barrier?

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 65. in HEALTH

Health Health Latest News, Health Health Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Newfoundland mental health project from after the cod moratorium could help support inform senior care, says doctorAfter the cod moratorium wiped out jobs for more than 30,000 people, the Canadian Mental Health Association trained community members to help their neighbours cope with the depression, listlessness and anxiety that followed
Source: globeandmail - 🏆 5. / 92 Read more »

Opinion | Dear Doug Ford, please don’t ignore Ontario’s LGBTQ2+ communities for another four yearsLGBTQ2+ people in Ontario face immense inequality. We’re more likely to live in poverty, experience hate crimes, be homeless and have poor mental health. And yet, our government ignores our questions and won’t act on our issues. Opinion by Fae Johnstone Doug doesn’t care. Poor mental health is key here.. The LG community needs to distance itself from the rest of the alphabet people who are dragging them down with their delusions and questionable actions such as the grooming of children.
Source: TorontoStar - 🏆 60. / 55 Read more »

'I didn't know if I would be alive tomorrow': Ukrainian student uses AI, robots to help those with mental health strugglesUkrainian student Iryna Parkhomchuk is using her past experience from the war, as well as her expertise in robotics and artificial intelligence, to help others struggling with their own mental health challenges. Too bad you didn't stay and fight for your own country There must be 'actual news' to report somewhere in Canada. Virtue signaling isn't newsworthy. tired of Ukraine stories, is that all you have?
Source: CTVNews - 🏆 1. / 99 Read more »