Mental Health Monday: Barriers To Seeking Help

April 12, 2021 1:22 pm Published by
It’s being called a silent crisis, a sleeper issue. But there are signs that this sleeper is at last awakening. Around the world studies, surveys, web networks, journals and newspaper articles are shedding light on a shadowy subject: men’s mental health.
Among the findings is the revelation that new fathers are also vulnerable to postpartum depression. In Canada, young and middle-aged men are being hospitalized for schizophrenia in increasing numbers. The gender gap among people with mental illness is much narrower than might be suspected. The StatsCan Canadian Community Health Survey on Mental health and well-being found that 10% of men experienced symptoms of the surveyed mental health disorders and substance dependencies, compared to 11% of women.
The greatest evidence of male vulnerability is in suicide statistics. Among Canadians of all ages, four of every five suicides are male.
Barriers to seeking help
According to the Toronto Men’s Health Network (TMHN), even the concept of “men’s health” is relatively new in Canada for a number of reasons.
One reason is the low priority given to men’s health issues in the research community. More funding and more specialists in this area will encourage ongoing research into male mental health.
Male and societal attitudes have fostered the silence. “The women’s health movement was very self-directed,” says Dr. McCreary. “Women banded together to work on problems with health delivery. Men don’t want to do that. We have inculcated a culture in our society that men have to be tough, men have to be strong. Our society is very good at punishing gender deviation in men. Weakness is not considered to be masculine.”
The “code” governing men’s behaviour is one of the prime barriers preventing men from seeking help. According to UK-based MaleHealth.com, men may feel it’s “weak and unmanly to admit to feelings of despair.” Because it’s easier for men to acknowledge physical symptoms, rather than emotional ones, their mental health problems can go undiagnosed.
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This post was written by Blackburn Media