Why concentrate on Men’s Mental Health?

Naturally, mental health and wellness is important for all of us irrespective of age or gender but mental illness, and its tragic consequence of suicide, feature more prominently in men. Men are known for bottling things up and not well known for visiting their doctor [although perhaps we are getting better at this considering I have seen 2 young men for mental health problems this morning alone as I’ve been writing this article].

On average, one in eight men will experience depression and one in five men will experience anxiety at some stage of their lives. Depression is a high-risk factor for suicide and plays a contributing role to the big difference in suicide rates for men and women.

“The number of men who die by suicide in Australia every year is nearly double the national road toll.”

“Globally, on average, one man died by suicide every minute of every day.”

“Blokes make up an average six out of every eight suicides every single day in Australia.”

“3 out of 4 suicides in Australia are by men.”

Those quotes are sobering and the reason for campaigns like Movember, Lifeline and Beyond Blue and indeed this article, but the good news is that these statistics can be improved and evidence is suggesting that things are going in the right direction.

Depression

Everyone feels sad, angry, or flat sometimes – these feelings are part of a healthy, full range of emotions, and are usually nothing to worry about.

Depression is different though.

It is a real, measurable illness that is unlikely to go away on its own. If you have been feeling sad, down, miserable or angry most of the time for more than two weeks, then you may be experiencing symptoms of depression.

Men are more likely to be aware of the physical symptoms rather than the emotional signs of depression. These symptoms can include things like feeling tired all the time, or changes in your weight, whether that is weight loss or putting on a few extra kilos.

When it comes to our mood, men are more likely to report feeling angry or short-tempered rather than feeling low.

One of the indirect signs of depression is a loss of interest in activities you usually enjoy, whether that is getting together with your mates, working in the garden, or just getting outside for a walk or a run.

The good news is depression is treatable, and there are simple actions you can take to start working on getting better and staying well.

Anxiety

Everyone experiences stress at different times in their lives. It could be feeling overwhelmed by a busy work schedule, or struggling with money problems, or feeling nervous before giving a speech at a wedding. This type of stress is part of ‘normal’ life, but it is also temporary and usually has an obvious cause.

But anxiety is different.

Anxiety is the fear that something terrible is going to happen, and it doesn’t go by itself readily, or if it does, it keeps rearing its head. Your worries ‘snowball’ into seeing catastrophe in everyday situations (psychologists actually call this ‘catestrophising’).

It’s intense, disrupts your life and hangs around even when a stressful situation has passed.

Your worries might be making you feel panicked, tense or on edge, be stopping you from sleeping, and wanting to avoid situations that make you feel anxious.

Anxiety can be a serious condition, but you don’t need to let it control you. Like depression, anxiety is treatable. If you’re experiencing symptoms of anxiety, it’s important to get support so you can start to get better.

Checklist for depression and anxiety

A quick and evidence-based checklist used by psychologists and doctors is the K10 Questionnaire. This is easily completed by yourself and if your result is 15 or below (10 is the lowest score you can get) this is a low risk for depression or anxiety. If the result is greater than 15 then you are experiencing symptoms which may mean depression and/or anxiety. In this case, you need to get checked out.

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/anxiety-and-depression-checklist-k10

Thoughts of self-harm and suicide prevention

Thoughts of self-harm and imagining you “not being here anymore” can occur to anyone at any point in their life and they are probably more common than you realise. You may be feeling overwhelming pain, hopeless, worthless, isolated, or like there is no way out. Usually these thoughts are short lived and while it is okay to have these feelings sometimes, if they become longer lasting or turn into an active plan or intent then you must reach out and talk to someone.

How can talking help?

Evidence from people that have attempted suicide, and thankfully survived, tells us that most people would not have gone through with the attempt if just one person had asked them how they are or offered to help. Mental health and internal anguish can go unrecognised and friends and family may simply not be aware what you are feeling unless you tell them. Reaching out to tell someone how you feel is not just the first step in getting help, it can be so beneficial that it may even save a life.

What can we do ourselves?

Everyone’s mental health varies during their life, and can move back and forth along their own personal range between positive and healthy at one end through to severe symptoms or conditions that impact on everyday life at the other, in response to different stressors and experiences.

One of the important things is to try not to listen to the negative voice inside that tells us “It’ll never get better” or “You deserve to feel this way”. Those voices tell us mistruths, but they can be pervasive and destructive if listened to.

Don’t try to go it alone, and instead;

• Talk to your mates
• Go and see your doctor
• Phone a counsellor (lifeline, beyond blue)

Who can Help?

For people in a mental health crisis (at risk of suicide immediately) then emergency services via 000 is always available.

If you’re feeling depressed or anxious, or you’re simply not sure who can help then make an [urgent] appointment with your GP. You don’t need to tell the receptionist what is wrong, but if you tell them it is an urgent matter they can either get in that day, else arrange for a doctor or nurse to phone you back.

Your GP is trained in helping people with mental health issues and they can assess and treat you themselves or discuss referrals to other services such as a psychologist (for talking therapies) or a psychiatrist (mental health doctor to consider specialist treatments) as well as others.

Medicare has always provided funding to help people afford private psychology services but recently in response to COVID-19 this has improved from 10 to 20 sessions (in person or Telehealth) every calendar year.

If it is after hours or when your GP is not open, then there are some excellent phone help lines to call such as;

Lifeline (13 11 14) as well as their excellent website https://www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/i-m-feeling-suicidal/

Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636) and  https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/suicide-prevention

References

https://au.movember.com/about/mental-health

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

https://www.lifeline.org.au/