Men’s Mental Health Matters Too

I’m a very expressive person when it comes to my emotions. Maybe it’s because my astrology sign is Cancer or it’s just in my blood. If you ask any of my friends, they will for sure tell you that I’m constantly telling them how I feel. Whether I’m excited, overwhelmed, anxious, or sad, my friends will be the first to know. And in return, I receive comfort and empathy from them.

I have recently been pondering these interactions with my girlfriends and it made me think about dynamics that I have noticed amongst male friendships. My ex-boyfriend and his male friends would always harshly joke about each other’s looks, voice, the way they talked and more. I always wondered if it was a coping mechanism to how they were really feeling internally or they just weren’t capable of being empathetic. And as it turns out, after doing some research, there’s a legit term for this occurrence and it’s called restrictive emotionality. Essentially, it’s a traditional masculine norm that’s described as a difficulty to express emotions out of fear which then leads to the suppression of negative or even toxic emotions. Another form of this phenomenon is “toxic masculinity,” which is a norm that’s pushed onto men to be “manly” and in order to do that they shouldn’t show any sort of vulnerability.

All of this is to say that just because men don’t show or express their emotions, it doesn’t mean that they don’t struggle with mental health. These norms and expectations are completely unfair and would be difficult for anyone to deal with. As feminists, it’s our moral imperative to bring light and attention to topics and groups of people that face inequalities and in this case it’s men’s mental health. As a feminist myself, I am completely guilty of not giving men’s mental health the bat of an eye because I just assumed that if the men in my life didn’t talk about their feelings or emotions that maybe they weren’t struggling.

According to research, men are four times as likely to die by suicide than women. NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Health) has recorded that annually, treatment rates among women and men in the United States shows to be 42.1% for men and 59.2% for women. That’s a 17% difference. Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done for men to simply “go get help” either because of financial reasons or because they’re stuck in a cycle of toxic masculinity.

This isn’t an easy challenge to tackle all at once, so we, as feminists, have to take it one step at time and do what we can. Dr Mifrah Sherwani and Ateeq Syed from the World Economic Forum wrote about five helpful strategies to help increase awareness and help subside the stigma around men’s mental health.

The first is to “normalize help-seeking behaviours by encouraging open communication,” whether that’s in school or at home.

The second is “help break stereotypes and motivate men to prioritize their mental health by presenting role models that possess attributes,” such as showing vulnerability, fear, sadness or even happiness.

The third is “early intervention and accessible resources” so that men who are showing signs of mental health struggles early on in their childhood, can get support before it gets bad. The fourth is to “embrace interconnectedness” or in other words, understand that all men have unique experiences with mental health and come from all sorts of backgrounds so not everyone is going to be able to access the support they need.

The fifth and final strategy is to take a “complex approach.” The article states that “legislative measures, educational programmes, and public awareness campaigns are all necessary components of a comprehensive strategy for men’s mental health by lowering stigma, expanding access to care, and creating supportive environments.”

All in all, I hope this article bring awareness and gave you insight to a topic that’s not usually talked about, but should be. We need to break these norms and stereotypes in order to move forward. Traits like empathy or vulnerability shouldn’t be dictated by if you’re a man, women, or non-binary because in the end we’re human, and we should feel things deeply and feel comfortable doing so.

Immediate, free, and confidential mental health support is available 24/7 by calling or texting 988 in the US and Canada to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.