Depression in Men
Conventionally, men are believed to have lower rates of depression as compared to women. This might be a true statement, but, the statement should not justify the overall mental state of men. Men encounter severe psychological issues as compared to women. Men tend to think that they are strong and can control their emotions. Each time they feel overwhelmed and hopeless, men deny their experiences by covering up what they feel. However, according to most counselling professionals, depression in men is a common disorder affecting men’s lives. Therefore, men should not perceive it as a sign of masculine failure or a weakness. This paper explores depression in men as an issue that arises in counselling through the biological, psychological, cognitive, relational, and social changes occurring in men’s life according to cultural diversity perspectives and issues surrounding depression in men.
Due to the strong nature of men, depression has been a major contributor to the poor understanding of the cases and occurrences of depression among men. It has made it hard for people, and even some counsellors to identify and treat depression. Thus, researchers have come up with various questions and answers that try to explore and create awareness about depression in men. Understandably, depression is a disorder that influences a person’s thoughts, feelings and actions. According to researchers, depression has various symptoms, including sadness, anxiety, hopelessness, pessimism, guilty and helplessness (Kashihara et al. 2019). Depression affects men regardless s of their age, status and backgrounds. It is normal for healthy individuals to feel down at some points in their lives. Life is full of ups and downs, setbacks and disappointments that can encourage mood dips. Unlike in depressive women, depressive men tend to change their thoughts, feeling and functionality. Depression in men can lead to unproductivity at work or at home. This will, in return, affect the victim’s sleep, relationship, diet and the general activities in his life. Besides, sever depressive disorders can lead to higher intensity and unrelenting. Even with these insights, depression in men is often overlooked since men find it difficult to talk about how they feel. That is why, in most cases, the men tend to direct their focus on symptoms of male depression such as pains, headaches, sexual issues, and inability to sleep well. Depressive men are most likely to commit suicide as compared to depressive women. This is an indication that depressed men should seek counselling and other help before the feeling of despair overwhelms them and encourages suicidal thoughts in the end.
The symptoms of depression among men and women are different. The symptoms of major depressive disorder are prevalent within two weeks when the victim is in a depressive mood and loss of interest in daily activities and taking part in pleasure. Other symptoms include loss of weight; weight gain, and changes in appetite. Some victims find it hard to fall asleep, and in extreme cases, depressed individuals are occupied with suicidal thoughts. Suicidal behaviours manifest when depression reaches a major episode. The risk factor that is consistent in this case is a historical attempt to threat; however, complete suicides are not commonly preceded by unsuccessful suicides (Kashihara et al. 2019). There is a difference between depressed women and men since depressed women attempts to commit suicide while depressive men die as a result of suicide.
Cultural diversity perspectives play a significant role in depression among the male gender. Researchers and poets have long provided universal signatures illustrating emotions among human beings. According to philosophers, humanity shares a biological identity. However, cultures create an undeniable imprint how we narrate our emotions, such as how we feel, think, and cope with the emotions thereof. According to some researchers, depression is equated to constellation symptoms of a starry sky. That is to imply that it is a universal suffering experience, a black vastness twinkling above human heads with bright and dotted dim lights. The risk factors for depression are almost similar across cultures. Some of the cultural risk factors of depression include gender, work and the nature of events. In cultural perspectives, depressive themes are centred on loss. However, there are significant differences in how people make losses or interpret them across different cultures.
In western countries, there is an increasing occurrence of pathologized depression, associated with biomedical factors. It is common to think that when we distance people from the things that distress them, we will be helping them. But teaching people that this is a complex, social and cultural issue that is entirely biological can easily backfire. This is because it ignores does away with environmental factors and makes depression an essential disorder, whose characteristics is directed to the victims and their biological make-ups. Furthermore, due to cultural diversity across the world, the meaning of depression is different (Kashihara et al. 2019). How different people from different locations assign the meaning of depression is different. For instance, according to Buddhists and how they approach depression, suffering or depression is regarded as essential life characteristics. That is to imply that even though we are conversant with depression and suffering, it is difficult to do away with the feeling.
Not only do the Buddhists regard depression as a way of life but also the Eastern European Christian churches, suffering is explained in two broad categories. First, suffering for a longer period of prolonged suffering is regarded as a sin. On the other hand, suffering that permits the victim to engage with his or her life is thought to be a way of drawing near to God. That is to imply that when one is suffering emotionally, he or she is not supposed to broadcast the feelings because it will be viewed as a complex and virtuous human in a given society. The Indian culture, on the other hand, regards suffering as a societal rift that requires being mending to make one whole and complete in the society thereof. Thus, cultures perceive depression disorders in a different way, which is why there are underlying differences in the disorder between men and women.
Most importantly, there are cultural vulnerabilities across cultures. The East Asian countries have gene prevalence regarding depression (Kashihara et al. 2019). However, this has not been a provoking element to cause depressive disorders among individuals because there are fewer reported cases of depression in the region. Thus, social stability and having functional relationships in communities and cultures is essential in protecting individuals against depressive disorders. That is why some cultures have formed regulative measures to regulate levels of suffering and depression among their people.
Depression is related to biological aspects of male victims. Researchers have explored the differences associated with people’s brains encountering clinical depression as compared to the healthy ones. It is noted that the hippocampus is a part of the brain responsible for storing a person’s memories. This part shrinks in those who have a history of depression, unlike those who have never had depressive disorders. A smaller or shrunk hippocampus reduces the number of serotonin receptors. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that permits communication across the brain circuits, vital in processing emotions. It is not clear why hippocampus tends to be smaller in depressed individuals. Still, it is a fact that cortisol, the stress hormone, is higher in depressed individuals, leading to shrinking of the hippocampus. According to the above research studies, it is imperative to believe that depression is associated with sex differences. This is because hormones and genes get disrupted during brain development as the male and female fetus develops.
A biological change a fetus is developing lays the basis that is responsible for the vulnerabilities that provoke mental disorders like depression. In this case, women get tuned to their emotions that are why they can describe their feelings once they are depressed. Men do not easily recognize depressive symptoms as signs of sin; they tend to deny or hide the unhappiness in their lives. Therefore, due to this, depressive disorder is overlooked until it gets severe or suicidal. Furthermore, biologically, men do not ruminate when depressed. Rumination refers to the act of talking to oneself, crying for no reason or rehashing the feelings. It is not meant to ruminate because it makes them feel worse than not ruminating. This is not common in men; they take part in several activities that help them in distracting their emotions. This is why they are likely to ease their depressive feelings. When depressed, men gender also engages themselves in the use of drugs and other substances to medicate their disorders.
In the early stages of development, depression in men manifested through irritability, anger, hostility, aggressiveness and abuse of substances to escape the feelings they encounter. In adverse circumstances, men tend to involve themselves in extramarital affairs to ease their depressive feeling. According to research, overly sexual is an action that is thought to help the depressed men’s effort in demonstrating sexual prowess to counter the inadequate feelings as well as avoiding relationship intimacy since it can expose one’s vulnerabilities (Karp, 2017). Therefore, on a psychological perspective, acting-out symptoms in men serve to cover-up their internal feelings as well as hiding the inner turmoil that depressed men experiences. But, there are times when such kinds of compensation do not work, hence exposing the distress and depression into an immense, hopeless, withdrawal and complete shutdown of normalcy in the activities of men.
Socially, the higher rates of depression, suicidal thoughts and substance abuse in men are associated with underlying risk factors like employment and occupational problems. Unemployment in men is a chronic issue that can lead to severe stress disorders. Besides, being unemployed or if one is redundant, it can lead to acute stress disorder. Research studies have recorded that unemployment greatly affects men leading to depressive disorders as compared to women (Hyde & Mezulis, 2020). This is because, traditionally, being employed is a domain that is associated with men. It is the basic element that helps in fostering a man’s self-identity, esteem and worth. More so, when a man is employed, he can earn income from it, create resources and uplift the status of his family with ease. That is to indicate that in case there is a rupture or discontinuity at the workplace or employment domain; men are likely to fall into significant psychological disorder due to severe strains in financial matters.
In many studies, low job securities result in competition regarding family and responsibilities at work. These competing issues lead to depressions among men since they believe that it is within their requirements and societal expectations to provide for the family as well as having jobs. Uncertainty in employment and the dangers and fears of being terminated leads to poor mental health among men. For instance, research studies indicate that male-dominated jobs or industries such as coal mining and commercial fishing registers higher rates of suicidal cases (Hyde & Mezulis, 2020). This is different from the case of gender-balanced industries like white-collar jobs. Therefore, a man must get a job even if it is a moderately earning job because it will protect him against the falling victim of depression.
Ideally, men do not find it easier to check in with counsellors or doctors for help. It is difficult for them to mention their emotional feelings to another party. If a man talks about his problems, he is likely to talk about job issues like low performance or reduced functionality. This is an indication that men talk about their depressions in terms of stress and not a feeling. They tend to communicate their issues through actions and not verbal communication. Such reactions regarding depression in men are closely associated with the ways through which men were brought up in the society. The society teaches norms and behaviours to its people. When boys grow and develop, they become conformed to the sociocultural prescriptions of the roles of a male in society and the most appropriate behaviours according to their gender. Through studies, it has been revealed masculine constellation ideas that prohibit men from showing off their emotional feelings as well as expressing the feeling through visible signs like crying. The society teaches men to be independent, competitive, emotionally stoicism and control themselves in case of any emotional issues. This is the reason why depression in men is rarely manifested until the later stages when it has reached the suicidal stage and thoughts (Hyde & Mezulis, 2020).
Cognitively, there is a prevailing phrase that goes, ‘big boys do not cry’. Such a phrase burs boys and men from crying or whining whenever they are overwhelmed. These are both implicit and explicit values promoted by parents, teachers and caretakers. They are responsibly in charge of shaping the boys and men’s identities and gender roles, their relationships and their healthcare practices at large. That is to imply that boys start learning to dissociate themselves from emotional experiences when they are still young. They harbour the sadness, shame, anger and any kind of emotional wretch through self –control since that is what they are thought during their stages of growth. It is essential to understand that there are no distinct differences in the triggers of depression in men and women. However, some underlying aspects and circumstances push men into depression. Such circumstances overpower the notion that men are ever strong. In men, loss and grief are prevalent and leads to severe depression disorder in the life of men.
In men, depression is a recurring disorder that manifests and goes. Some men can live and pretend to be emotionally well due to strong demeanour. Since depression is not a downward progressive issue, it still occurs over time. Therefore, the ups of depression in men are fewer than the downs, which are often worse. That is why it is always difficult for men to seek professional help when overwhelmed. The length to which they take to seek help attracts the entrenched negative emotions, thoughts and suicidal decisions since they feel it is difficult to overcome depression (Hyde & Mezulis, 2020). Another reason for men not to seek help when depression sets in are that they tend to explore more about the social constructions that depict men as powerful, strong and competitive. Therefore, admitting that they are vulnerable and uncertain is a hard and challenging decision to make. That is why they rarely talk about their problems to the counsellors, the doctors and their loved ones. That is why a vast number of men report to the emergency departments when their illness is at a severe stage due to denial and self-management.
Regardless of what a man feelings r undergoes, he will always believe that he can rely on himself alone since looking for help will show that he is weak. More so, according to counsellors, men do not easily articulate their issues when they talk to professionals care providers. It left to the care providers to interpret what the men say and the body language that reveals what the man is feeling and the identity of the depression. For counsellors, doctors and professional caregivers, they should not ignore depressed men. There are several ways through which the counsellors, doctors and caregivers can help in listening, addressing and treating depression among men. According to the NIMH, about 25% of the adults in the US encounter depression, anxiety and some encounters both. Furthermore, depression is not only prevalent in adults but also in adolescents and young children.
Every individual responds differently to depression treatments. There are three major treatments for depression. These are medication, therapy and CBT or cognitive behavioural therapy (Segal & Teasdale, 2018). More so, lifestyle changes can also help depressive men to cope up with depressions. For instance, when the victim regularly exercises, the body produces essential endorphins that help in uplifting his mod. More so, taking part in mindful or meditation practices can help reduce stress occurrence as well as support the wellbeing of the victim. Those close to depressed individuals should also be at the forefront of helping them to cope up with the stressful issues. This can be achieved by encouraging them to check with a specialist to get professional help and being patient towards them to help them recover from the disorder (Butterfield et al. 2017).
In conclusion, depression in men has been an overlooked disorder since men are attributed to being strong, tough and can help themselves. However, men encounter stressful circumstances associated with the biological, psychological, cognitive and social changes in their lives. More so, cultural diversity perspectives have an impact on the mental health of men, as discussed above. Therefore, counsellors, doctors and other professionals should not ignore the fact that men suffer from depression and their symptoms most manifest during the severe stages. There are treatment strategies as well as lifestyle changes that can help depressed men to cope with the situation.
References
Butterfield, N., Schultz, T., Rasmussen, P., & Proeve, M. (2017). Yoga and mindfulness for anxiety and depression and the role of mental health professionals: a literature review. The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice.
Hyde, J. S., & Mezulis, A. H. (2020). Gender differences in depression: biological, affective, cognitive, and sociocultural factors. Harvard review of psychiatry, 28(1), 4-13.
Karp, D. A. (2017). Speaking of sadness: Depression, disconnection, and the meanings of illness. Oxford University Press.
Kashihara, J., Yamakawa, I., Kameyama, A., Muranaka, M., Taku, K., & Sakamoto, S. (2019). Perceptions of traditional and modern types of depression: A cross‐cultural vignette survey comparing Japanese and American undergraduate students. Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, 73(8), 441-447.
Segal, Z. V. & Teasdale, J. (2018). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression. Guilford Publications.