It is thought that male depression affects about 5% of all men. The problem is, most of us are unlikely to spot the symptoms of male depression, let alone admit we’ve got it.
It’s recognized that men have a different reaction to depression than women. Anger and aggression are two common signals of a depressed man. Hmmm. That probably describes half the men you know, so how do you know if they’re suffering from depression?
Those signals mean that male depression can show itself as anger when driving, sudden loss of temper, that kind of thing. These can easily dismissed as just being “normal” whilst they’re actually just the tip of the iceberg.
Most men find it difficult to talk about their feelings. Even otherwise “modern” men can find it difficult to talk. Many men think it’s a sign of failure if they have to talk about their feelings rather than just “deal” with them.
Which means that the advice you’d give a depressed woman to “simply talk about your feelings” isn’t something that many men would take kindly to.
You may think the right thing to do is to bottle up your feelings. Trouble is, in the long term, that’s probably the worst thing you can do. Those bottled up feelings can start to eat away at you.
So what can you do to cure your male depression? If you can pluck up the courage to talk about your feelings - maybe under the guise of a fishing trip or similar - that’s an excellent start. If that’s difficult, try talking about a “friend” who’s got the problems you’re experiencing. Men are natural problem solvers, so there’s a high chance you’ll get some excellent advice if you go in this direction. Your doctor can also prescribe drugs which may help in the short term until you can find a better solution.
Another way is to use a completely discrete method to help overcome your male depression. The internet really comes into its own here. You can get access to depression help at the click of a mouse and no-one (apart from maybe your credit card company) will be any the wiser. You can then read or listen to the anti-depression material at your own pace.
Get more ways to help reduce male depression here.
