Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Sam Santavicca
The human body is an imperfect machine. Like all machines, sometimes it doesn’t work
properly. Some of these imperfections are noticeable, like a child being born with a genetic
disease that manifests itself physically. Other times, humans can have less noticeable problems
with their bodies or minds. Mental health is something that is not easy to see. Because it is
mainly self-reported, the person suffering must have a clear idea of what is going on in their
head. Realizing that you have a mental health problem takes courage to assess, and even more
courage to seek help. Despite the advances in modern medicine and technology, people,
especially men, have a hard time asking for help. According to the National Center for Health
Statistics, only 40% of men who report feelings of anxiety or depression choose to seek help
(Blumberg, Clarke, Blackwell). These statistics reflect a cultural and societal stigma against
Although both men and women can suffer from mental health issues, the diagnostic
criteria tend to skew more towards women. “For example, epidemiologic statistics suggest that
for the majority of mood and anxiety disorders found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (Task Force on DSM-IV, 2000), women are significantly more likely than men
to meet criteria for a diagnosis” (Addis, Cohane 634). That article also postures a few
Mainly, men are constantly told to “man up” and deal with their problems “like a man”. Men
also have a higher rate of substance abuse and violence than women (Addis, Cohan 634) that
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tends to mask deeper mental health problems. Men also tend to believe that they must be
independent of others to be a real man. According to Addis and Cohane, this social deficiency
starts at infancy. “Because the mother is often the primary source from which infants and
toddlers develop a sense of safety and intimacy in interpersonal relationships, this premature
disidentification is assumed to leave many men with severely repressed emotional needs for
intimacy and connection to others” (636). By failing to connect on an emotional level at a young
age, men fail to develop the abilities to empathize, and believe that they can be empathized with,
later in life. This deficiency causes them to fail to understand that asking for help can fix their
problems. Men don’t understand that other people can fix things that they cannot, so they believe
As previously noted, men tend to develop emotional deficiencies at a young age due to
the disconnect they feel with their mothers. This tends to be one of the reasons that men do not
develop empathy as well as women do. Women can bond and learn at a young age with someone
of the same sex. This enables women to identify with someone who they will develop into in the
future. In Denmark, 95% of father attend the births of their children (Madsen 15). This is a
drastic increase from the 1970s, when hospital births were first becoming the norm. Madsen
suggests that men no longer come to the births simply to support their wives, but because they
want to take a more active role in the raising of their children. “While at first these fathers were
present mostly to support their partners, studies show that today they also participate to a large
degree in order to specifically bond with the babies—i.e., to meet their children as fathers, not
merely as “partners” or “relatives”. (Madsen 16). Madsen asserts that this may be the reason for
a decrease in the mental health rates in men and boys across Nordic and Scandinavian countries.
father of the tail end of the last century, through the breadwinner and the “dad,” to the “new
father” of the present day” (Madsen 16). Many European countries allow paternity leave for men
to establish bonds with their children during infancy. “Danish men take an average of three-and-
a-half weeks of paternity leave. Among other Nordic countries the average is even higher, with
fathers in Iceland taking an average of 12 weeks and in Sweden and Norway an average of six
weeks” (Madsen 15). This article makes it clear that when men spend time with their children,
their children have an easier time identifying with the emotions and mental functions that they
are expected to develop. By increasing face time and physical contact between men and their
children, children will learn the proper ways to empathize and develop the ability to rely on
According to the Mayo Clinic, men experience depression symptoms in different ways
than women. Both men and women feel tired, hopeless, sad, and lose interest in activities (Mayo
Clinic). Although men can have symptoms similar to those experienced by women, their primary
symptoms tend to be less obvious. The primary symptoms of male depression include escapist
behaviors, substance abuse, and irritability (Mayo Clinic). These symptoms tend to appear more
in men than in women due to the failure to recognize the other main symptoms. “You may not
recognize how much your symptoms affect you, or you may not want to admit to yourself or to
anyone else that you're depressed. But ignoring, suppressing or masking depression with
unhealthy behavior will only worsen the negative emotions” (Mayo Clinic). Because men fail to
recognize that they are experiencing depression, their symptoms will compound into worse
symptoms that lead to more dangerous lifestyles. Men will continue to act out and take larger
risks until someone recognizes their deteriorating mental health. Men will also fail to report their
symptoms because they delegitimize their own experiences. “You may not be open to talking
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about your feelings with family or friends, let alone with a doctor or mental health professional.
Like many men, you may have learned to emphasize self-control. You may think it's not manly
to express feelings and emotions associated with depression, and you try to suppress them”
(Mayo Clinic). The cultural and social expectations of men restrict their abilities to report their
own health. It’s easy to recognize a broken arm, but it is hard to notice substance abuse or lack of
interest in activities.
Both men and women suffer from mental health complications. Due to the social and
cultural lifestyles of men and women, men tend to underreport their mental health struggles. Men
tend to fail to identify with emotionally competent adults at a young age, and this causes them to
fail to develop the proper emotional response to health problems. Men seek external sources of
relief such as substance abuse, domestic abuse, and other risky escapist behaviors. To combat
these problems, allowing men to identify with a positive role model at an early age, like the way
more fathers attend births in Denmark, will give them a better representation of how to develop
empathy. Adapting the diagnostic criteria to better fit the ways that men show mental health
problems would also be a good step in solving this issue. By giving men a better and more
comfortable way to address their mental health concerns, we as a society can become more
Works Cited
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Blumberg, S. J., & Blackwell, D. L. (2015, November 6). Products - Data Briefs - Number 206 -
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db206.htm.
Addis, M. E., & Cohane, G. H. (2005, June). Social scientific paradigms of masculinity and their
implications for research and practice in men's mental health. Retrieved November 10, 2019,
from
http://rt4rf9qn2y.search.serialssolutions.com/?id=doi:10.1002/jclp.20099&sid=wiley&iuid=3141
paradigms of masculinity and their implications for research and practice in men's mental
9762&epage=647.
Madsen, S. A. (2009, January). Men's Mental Health: Fatherhood and Psychotherapy - Svend
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3149/jms.1701.15.
Behaviors in men that could be signs of depression. (2019, May 21). Retrieved November 10,
depression/art-20046216.