The impact of male’s mental health in the UK has risen a dramatic amount in the past decade. It is stated that anxiety and depression affect almost 77% of men; the factors that affect men the most are employment by 32%, money by 31% and wellbeing by 23%. However nearly 22% of males have stated that they would feel uncomfortable communicating to professionals about an issue or situation they are going through. As well as this they feel that they will not be worthy of the General Practitioners time (Priorygroup.com, 2019).

 The way society portrays different gender has an impact on how to portray mental health; for male’s society expect them to be the individuals with the most money which is traditional being known as a masculine trait and control. It is highlighted that these common traditional roles can have a huge impact on a male’s mental health as if they don’t fulfil these roles they will feel “unmanly”(Afifi, M., 2007. ).

A wide range of research suggest that males who tend to not communicate effectively about their feelings are less likely to acknowledge symptoms of mental health issues within themselves which can lead them to not gain support or encouragement about the situation (Sloan, C et al 2010).

In England males only tend to make up a total of 36% of appointments Men’s Mental Health (2017)., males that tend to not be able to communicate to their family and friends about the situation they are going through are more likely to use dangerous techniques such as alcohol and drugs as a reaction to distress. Therefore, research states that males tend to seek support if it is beneficial to them and significant (Ellis, L.A., et al 2013).

There are many organisations that can help males and any in that matter get back on track; Calm is an campaign that prevents individuals committing suicide in the United Kingdom they tend to prevent suicide by encouraging men who are in an dangerous situation with the services of helpline and websites , putting strategy’s in place to so males can seek support all the time and changing policies and procedures to make them more effective (Jordan, A., 2019).

Samaritans is a charity that helps individuals not feeling isolated and disconnected to society that can lead them to suicide. There are almost 5 million individuals that call email and communicate face to face every year about what they are going through (Brownlie, J., 2017).

Even though mental health affects both men and women unfortunately men seek treatment less than women; therefore, men have a higher chance off committing suicide than women this is stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As peers and family, it is important to identify symptoms of an individual and make sure they can get treatment as soon as possible, it is stated that the most frequently an individual’s gain treatment the more effective it can be (Seidler, Z.E et al. 2016).

 Having gender stereotypes is another reason why males tend not to seek help or think they don’t have an issue; when it comes to personality traits individuals tend to think when females deal with situations they tend to overthink and become emotional however with males they tend to become violent and free.  Within this it is the same with the profession’s individuals go in, individuals tend to think that females tend to be nurses, teachers and social workers whereas other individuals tend to think males’ occupations are engineers, doctors and police officers (Ellemers, N., 2018 ).

 Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is a type of therapy that helps support your issues it encourages you adapting the way you behave and think. CBT therapy is used to help individuals with anxiety and depression; CBT is very effective as it encourages individuals to communicate and advise you however the disadvantages are that it very time commitment and there can sometimes be extra work which can take a huge amount of time (James, A.C et al., 2013).

In conclusion to this male tend to have more of a pride when it comes to communicating about their issues and problems as their society provides them to be more “Masculine” however there are a lot of strategies, organisations and professionals that are in place to decrease this stigmatisation. 

References

WHY MEN WON’T TALK ABOUT THEIR MENTAL HEALTH | PRIORY GROUP Why men won’t talk about their mental health | Priory Group. [online] Available at: https://www.priorygroup.com/blog/40-of-men-wont-talk-to-anyone-about-their-mental-health [Accessed 29 Nov. 2019]

Afifi, M., 2007. Gender differences in mental health. Singapore medical journal, 48(5), p.385.

Sloan, C., Gough, B. and Conner, M., 2010. Healthy masculinities? How ostensibly healthy men talk about lifestyle, health and gender. Psychology and Health, 25(7), pp.783-803.

Ellis, L.A., Collin, P., Hurley, P.J., Davenport, T.A., Burns, J.M. and Hickie, I.B., 2013. Young men’s attitudes and behaviour in relation to mental health and technology: implications for the development of online mental health services. BMC psychiatry, 13(1), p.119.

Jordan, A., 2019. Postfeminist Men’s Movements: The Campaign Against Living Miserably and Male Suicide as ‘Crisis’. In The New Politics of Fatherhood (pp. 165-191). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Brownlie, J., 2017. CRFR briefing 89: Spaces for sharing? Challenges of providing emotional support online.

Seidler, Z.E., Dawes, A.J., Rice, S.M., Oliffe, J.L., & Dhillon, H.M. (2016). The role of masculinity in men’s help-seeking for depression: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 49:106-118. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272735816300046

Mens Mental Health (2017). Key data: mental health. Retrieved from https://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/key-data-mental-health

James, A.C., James, G., Cowdrey, F.A., Soler, A. and Choke, A., 2013. Cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Cochrane database of systematic reviews, (6).

Ellemers, N., 2018. Gender stereotypes. Annual review of psychology, 69, pp.275-298.