If there is one thing in the world that a great deal of men struggle with, it would absolutely be their mental health. There has always been an issue when it comes to the ability of men to share their mental state with others, whether that be because of upbringing or other personal experiences.
There is a societal precedent that can be traced back as the primary cause of this issue — the idea that men have to always be strong and independent, never sharing their feelings, always being that perfect rock to hold everyone else down.
It’s likely that if somebody is to ask a man, boy, or anyone of the male gender about their mental health, they will likely not feel 100% comfortable talking about it, because they are never taught to be comfortable with discussing it. In fact, many men are they’re taught to ignore their feelings.
“I feel like we’re all kinda brought up to, y’know, you hear it all the time, be a man, push through it and I feel like obviously that has an effect on, y’know, the rest of your life probably,” said Luke Sommese, a senior at SUNY Old Westbury. “I’d say I am more likely to push past something rather than seek help, but, I again feel like that’s most men, honestly.”
The male population has a vastly higher suicide rate when compared to women, almost four times higher to be exact, according to an article published by the Association of American Medical Colleges, a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming health through medical education, health care, medical research, and community collaborations.
The article said high rates of suicide are a byproduct of the lack of respect or care given to men suffering from mental health problems.
“Too often, society blames men themselves for their struggles,” the article said. “They are the ones who often turn to substance abuse and violent behavior rather than getting help for their mental health.”
It far too often falls onto the poor men who suffer in silence to take the colossal blame for the issues that they feel unable to talk about, and there is much research that delves into why this needs to be rethought and how to rethink it.
Men will continue to suffer until society as a whole starts to realize that all of these men need proper care and support in order to finally recover from their degrading mental state as time goes on.
It really needs to be better understood why exactly the men of this world are constantly encouraged to keep their feelings in and always appear tough, and then it absolutely needs to be squashed.
Hopefully society can one day be able to really weed out the societal sources of these terrible stigmas and squash them once and for all, making room for men to finally speak about their feelings. When the male population is finally able to truly open up, society will be made a little bit more healthy.
