Studying Men's Mental Health Balance
A year after Robin Williams' death, we can explore why men's mental health is so fragile. A startling World Health Organization statistic shows that "someone around the globe dies by suicide every 40 seconds", according to psychcentral.
In 2000, it was found that 815,000 people committed suicide, being 1.9% higher for men than for women. Strangely, it has shot up to four times higher for men than for women today.
The guidelines laid down for men over the years is mostly contradictory and arbitrary. While men's feelings have not been given as much importance as women's, men's mental health still seems to be tough balancing.
Women tend to approach psychiatrists to get treated for depression more often than men. On the other hand, men's physical health issues are sourced from emotional health that has not been treated. Men consider it weak to seek the doctor's help. There is less funding to treat men's mental health.
"Women are more likely to have been treated for a mental health problem than men (29% compared to 17%).This could be because, when asked, women are more likely to report symptoms of common mental health problems," according to mentalhealth.
Telling men that "real men don't cry" is a recipe for disaster. Suicide to help a man indicates that society is failing to provide a support system for men.
In May, some amazing men's mental health advocates in the Mental Health Warrior event emerged as the epitome of strength.
Recently, there have been a number of activists who have helped men to lead in solving mental health problems. For instance, Jean-François Claude helped to enact Ottawa's Men's Mental Health Awareness Day in 2014, which is now annually observed.
Hence, while suicide is an important issue, "We must all do our part to help men become equal partners in the mental health discussion until the day that the discussion becomes gender free. Embracing balance means embracing and including the feelings of men.," according to psychcentral.
