Men and Suicide Free Essay Sample

Did you know nearly four times as many men as women die by suicide? This is pretty unknown as women are nearly twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with depression. We do not talk about this nearly enough.  I think one of the leading factors of this is that men are less likely to seek help . It could be because they are often taught to “suck it up” or that it will seem unmasculine for them to get help. I also feel like men try to hide their feelings as best as they can because they don't feel like it is normal for guys to be sad, or depressed.

One of the leading factors of men suidice rates being so high is that they are afraid to seek help. It is not as normalized for guys to seek help when they are dealing with these emotions. According to a poll of 21,000 American men by researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), nearly one in ten men reported experiencing some form of depression or anxiety, but less than half seeked treatment. Doctor Joseph Harper at the University of Southern California and an advocate for men’s mental health, says “I have worked with thousands of men in both one-on-one and group settings. I am convinced the statistics are skewed and the number of men who struggle and fail to get help is much greater than we have been led to believe.” According to TCA Regional News “more than 6 million men suffer from depression per year and many go undiagnosed. “So it's crazy to me that we continue to not talk about it. It happens over and over again and it still isn't talked about.

Guys are often taught to “suck it up” or it will make them seem less masculine, so that is another reason for the high suicide rate. Guys are not taught how to deal with these emotions that they face and it just overwhelms them to a point they cannot handle. Doctor Joseph Harper at the University of Southern California and an advocate for men’s mental health stated “Too many men think they are supposed to be strong or macho all the time — even when in pain. For many, it would be unimaginable, intolerable for anyone to know they were battling anxiety, depression, or were bogged down by their emotions. Many of my male patients also seem to believe that because they are not physically ill they are not truly sick.”This should not be how it is. So many men think they have to be strong for everyone else and can't think about their own mental health. Although there is no man's depression and women's depression, the symptoms vary. Men tend to handle it with more aggression and substance abuse which can lead to the point of suidice. Andy Steiner says  “For many men, stuffing emotions is a protective impulse,” and I 100% agree with that. Men are just not as taught to handle their emotions in a healthy way I believe and that is why it needs to be more normalized to talk about. Globaly 1 man dies from suicide every minute of everyday. (TCA Regional News)

One more reason for the high rate is that guys often hide how they feel and don't feel like they have other guy friends that they can talk to. Although I am not a guy, and don't know exactly how they feel, I do know that in Brainerd and Pequot, in the past few years three teenage boys have died from suidice. They were known to be the most positive and happy people. TCA Regional News states depression and suicide are ranked as a leading cause of death among men, and yet they are still far less likely to seek mental health treatment than women. The Washington Informer says “Men who struggle with depression are far from alone. Men may hesitate to talk about their feelings or seek the help that may improve their lives.” In the MinnPost, Andy Stiener interviews Mark Meier and he states “Many men just don’t have any real friends,” “They have people they fish with or golf with, but they don’t have intimate friends. We talk about depression and anxiety as drivers to suicide. A very common denominator is that men are lonely. They have the burden of concerns that men aren’t allowed to speak about in public or at work.” Men mask their feelings. They cover it with happiness and jokes. No one takes it as seriously as it needs to be. After the deaths of Levi, Jake, and Jack (The boys from Brainerd and Pequot) in our community it turned everyone's world upside down. No one knew how to move forward. First Levi, then Jake, then Jack. All you can really say is “why?” After Levi and Jake, suicide was a topic highly talked about. No one wanted this to happen again. Then it did with Jack. Everyone of those boys were thought to be happy. Honestly I don't know what change is going to help men realize it's ok to not be ok. It's ok to get help. The only way for men to know this is just to talk. Ask how they are. If you notice changes, ask what's wrong. These boys' deaths broke so many people's hearts. No one at this age needs to deal with this as much as everyone in our community has in the past few years and still to this day.  Everyone in the community has taken roles in honoring these boys and starting suicide prevention organizations to talk abiut it more and make it a much more well known thing. 

So after reading this, I hope this causes you to think about men's mental health more, and start talking about it more. Men's mental health, and womens, are very important things to talk about and be normalized. I know there is no foolproof way to prevent depression and suicide but there are sure many things we can do to help others. There are countless articles to help if someone you know is experiencing depression and you don't know how to be a support, including some that I used in this article. I encourage you to think about ways you can help and make a difference in your community and the world around you. 

Works Cited

Harper, Joseph. "Too Many Men Ignore their Depression, Phobias, Other Mental Health Issues: But there are Ways to Encourage them to Get the Help they Need — when they Need it. here are some Tips."ProQuest, Jul 03, 2021, https://content.elibrarymn.org/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fblogs-podcasts-websites%2Ftoo-many-men-ignore-their-depression-phobias%2Fdocview%2F2548036544%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D45111.

"Men and Depression: A Different Experience." Washington Informer, Jun, 2021, pp. 19. ProQuest, https://content.elibrarymn.org/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fnewspapers%2Fmen-depression-different-experience%2Fdocview%2F2538441728%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D45111 

Steiner, Andy. "‘I Got some Hope’: Face it Foundation Provides Peer Support for Men Battling Depression." MinnPost.com, Jun 08, 2020. ProQuest, https://content.elibrarymn.org/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fnewspapers%2Fi-got-some-hope-face-foundation-provides-peer%2Fdocview%2F2410886133%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D45111 

Faust, Vince. "Depression can Affect Men, Too." Philadelphia Tribune, Apr 21, 2020, pp. 4B,5B. ProQuest, https://content.elibrarymn.org/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fnewspapers%2Fdepression-can-affect-men-too%2Fdocview%2F2453161754%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D45111 

"National Men's Health Week." TCA Regional News, Jun 18, 2020. ProQuest, https://content.elibrarymn.org/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fwire-feeds%2Fnational-mens-health-week%2Fdocview%2F2414397294%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D45111