Today the LID Publishing office is celebrating International Men’s Day. Since its inception in 1992, International Men’s Day has worked towards fostering men’s and boy’s health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, and acts as an opportunity for men to celebrate their achievements and contributions to the community.
In the UK, the themes for the Day are “Making A Difference for Men and Boys” and “how we can give men and boys better life chances”, with the goal of helping people consider what actions can be taken to address and resolve some of the following issues:
- The high male suicide rate
- The challenges faced by boys and men at all stages of education including attainment
- Men’s health, shorter life expectancy and workplace deaths
- The challenges faced by the most marginalized men and boys in society (for instance, homeless men, boys in care and the high rate of male deaths in custody)
- Male victims of violence, including sexual violence
- The challenges faced by men as parents, particularly new fathers and separated fathers
- Male victims and survivors of sexual abuse, rape, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, forced marriage, honour-based crime, stalking and slavery
- The negative portrayal of men, boys, and fathers
Getting to the facts
In honor of International Men’s Day, we are offering an exclusive extract from our new title, Positive Male Mind, by Dr. Shaun Davis and Andrew Kinder.
At any given time, 12.5% of men are diagnosed with a common mental condition, such as anxiety, depression, panic disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder. [C. Deverill and M. King (2009), ‘Common mental disorders’, in Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey]
At least one in ten of the male workforce in the UK describes themselves as ‘significantly stressed’ and 34% of those surveyed agreed or strongly agreed they were ‘constantly feeling stressed or under pressure’. [Men’s Health Forum, 2016]
Only 50% of men feel comfortable discussing mental health issues. [Business in the Community, Mental Health at Work Report 2017] Also, researchers found that 28% of men had not sought help for the last mental health problem they experienced, compared to just 19% of women. [Mental Health Foundation, 2016]
Some 34% of men admitted they would be embarrassed or ashamed to take time o work for mental health concerns, compared to 13% who would be self-conscious about doing so for a physical injury. [Men’s Health Forum, 2016]
More than three-quarters (76%) of suicides in the UK are by men [ONS], with suicide being the big- gest cause of death for men under the age of 45. [Department of Health]
It is, therefore, no surprise that the odds really do appear to be stacked against men who find themselves struggling with their mental health.
But why is dealing with mental health issues such a dramatically different experience for men and women? Some argue that these differences are simply out of our hands and that the way men respond to mental health issues is just part of our genetic make-up.
While this debate will undoubtedly continue, this book is focused on factors we each have the potential to influence and impact, or that we can at least choose our response to:
- Life experiences: Childhood experiences, both positive and negative, have profound effects on our character, personality, and emotions as we mature into adulthood. Because boys are encouraged to ‘man up’, act tough, stay in control and take what life throws at them – and actively discouraged from showing their softer side – as adults, they may find it difficult to seek support when they’re struggling with something, especially their mental health and wellbeing
- Social and cultural influences: Compared with women, men are more likely to eat an unhealthy diet, be overweight, drink excessive levels of alcohol, misuse drugs and be involved in an accident.
Physical Health and Mental Health
And where physical health is poor among men, it can have a corresponding impact on their mental health. Men also tend to have a very different social circle than women, with fewer close relationships, which means that if they’re struggling with their mental health, they have fewer people to rely on or to encourage them to get support. Because men tend to focus on work relationships, they can feel particularly unsupported if a problem occurs at work – for instance, conflict with colleagues or their line manager.
- The impact of the workplace: There is a great deal of pressure on men. Even though society is changing (which is good news) the majority of men continue to earn more than women and are more likely to occupy senior positions within an organization. Men are also twice as likely as women to work full-time and have a poor work-life balance, putting in inordinately long hours. They are also more likely to have the role as the main ‘breadwinner’ within a household.
Because work is so central to a man’s life, when it is unsatisfying, disengaging or uncertain, it can be a significant source of mental distress and can impact the mental health of their family and those close to them.
Redundancy can also have an especially big impact on men, with their sense of purpose and contribution to their family and society more widely being questioned if they lose their job.
Regardless of how we got where we are, we do need to deal with the reality that men just aren’t accessing help for mental health issues at an early stage. And that, of course, means that mental health problems are likely to last longer and go deeper. This will certainly change as the fantastic work being undertaken by the government, employers, charities and mental health campaigners begin to cascade down to those who need help and awareness most urgently.
If you are a man who is struggling with some of the below issues, please look at the resources available:
Boys and Young Mens’ Personal Development
- Abandofbrothers: abandofbrothers.org.uk
- The Gentlemen’s Network: thegentlemensnetwork.org
- Juvenis: juvenis.org.uk
- Lads Need Dads: ladsneeddads.org
- Menscraft: menscraft.org.uk/mensnet/
- Working with Men: workingwithmen.org
- Families Need Fathers: fnf.org.uk
- Baggy Trousers: baggytrousersuk.org
- Blue Ribbon Foundation: blueribbonfoundation.org.uk
- CALM: thecalmzone.net
- Colour Blind Awareness: colourblindawareness.org/
- Men Get Eating Disorders Too: mengetedstoo.co.uk
- Men Tell Health: mentellhealth.org
- Orchid: orchid-cancer.org.uk/
- Prostate Cancer UK: prostatecanceruk.org/
- Men’s Sheds: menssheds.org.uk/
- ManKind Counselling: mankindcounselling.org.uk
- Stay Brave: staybraveuk.org
- Survivors Manchester: survivorsmanchester.org.uk
- Survivors UK: survivorsuk.org
- Survivors West Yorkshire: survivorswestyorkshire.org.uk
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