Depression in Adult Men: Factors, Help-Seeking Barriers, Solutions

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of depression in adult men, examining the various factors that contribute to this mental health issue, including physical health, relationship problems, employment difficulties, and personal or social challenges. It delves into the specific issues that make men reluctant to seek help, such as societal expectations of masculinity, lack of awareness of symptoms, and a tendency to suppress emotions. Furthermore, the essay discusses several interventions that can be employed to assist men in engaging with help-seeking behaviors, including personal approaches from family and friends, the use of appropriate language by healthcare professionals, and the creation of positive environments that encourage open communication and support. The essay emphasizes the importance of recognizing the complex nature of depression and the need for tailored interventions to address the unique challenges faced by men.

Depression In Adult Men

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Factors contributing to depression in adult men ....................................................................1
Issues which makes men reluctant to seek help.....................................................................2
Interventions that have been attempted to assist men to engage in seeking help for depression3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Depression is the common and severe medical illness that negatively impacts individual's
psychological as well mental condition. It is one of the major cause of concern across the world.
The disease can deteriorate person's mental and physical ability to function. It also has an effect
on how a person think, act, behave and react. Despondency affects both the sexes that is male
and female equally (Harkness et.al., 2010). Essay will also include the factors that contributes
depression in adult men. It will also show the issues because of which adult male does not seek
for any treatment. Assignment will consist of the interventions that can be used to assist men to
engage in seeking help. (McCusker & Galupo, 2011)
MAIN BODY
Factors contributing to depression in adult men
The main reason of depression in adult man can be because of physical health,
relationship, employment, personal and social problems. All these elements lay a huge impact on
the mental stability of adult men. Moreover, adolescence is the age where individual undergo
various physical and emotional changes. So, this is also one of the common reason behind
anxiety issues in young male. Research shows that one in seven young boys in Australia suffers
from depression. This is because males have a tendency to ignore the signs and symptoms related
to the disorder. They do not consider it as a major health issue which impacts severely their
quality of life.
Domestic violence or substance abuse can also be one of the cause for depression.
Moreover, parental abuse can emotionally destroy any individual as not having support of family
can impact their health condition severely. It causes severe stress to young men which results
into problem like anxiety, mood swings, change in behaviour, etc. The violence is another cause
because of which individual force to adopt harmful practices like consumption of alcohol, drugs,
cigars, marijuana. However, excessive consumption of harmful substance by adult men is
another reason of increasing depression.
This can negatively impact the well-being of young men. Threat of violence, emotional
abuse all these are the major reasons behind deterioration of adult male health. All these issues
develop many other problems in men like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, damaged brain
and many more. The feeling of hopelessness and helplessness affect their mental and emotional
well-being. According to Vogel et.al., (2011) the predefined masculine behaviour of men make

it difficult for them to address their depression. It is expected that being masculine this half
community cannot suffer from depression or cannot demand for help. In cases when some men's
complain regarding abuses they are judge from negative aspects only without reality check. For
example people have strong belief that either the man is trying to take some advantage by
defaming other or he is not capable to protect himself so they start questioning on his dignity and
existence. Men who suffer from diseases like physical impairment and HIV aids are often seen
with depressive signs and symptoms. People facing these disorders are often ill-treated and
discriminated because of disorder and also not being provided with fair chances. All these factors
make a man depressed and due to this they are often seen with feeling of shame, guilt or fear of
failure (Parent, Gobble & Rochlen, 2018). The signs and symptoms that can be observed during
anxiety are change in eating pattern, loss of weight, fatigue, sleep deceptiveness, suicidal
tendency, etc.
Obesity is one of the serious concern because of which depression occurs in most of the
young men. Research shows that the obese person is at 55% more risk to face depression. Like
for example gaining weight in the young age can be a factor for stress. It also creates a feeling of
jealousy among young individual which deteriorate their ability to work. Some male faces this
problem because of the family history. It might happen that any close relative of individual has
previously suffered from depression. Personal issue like instability in relationship can also make
young make feel pressurised (Vogel et.al., 2011).
Issues which makes men reluctant to seek help
Depression is faced by man and woman equally. Often it has been analysed that young
male prevents to seek help for curing this disease. There are various social and cultural issues
which restricts men to not seek any treatment related to stress and anxiety. It has been observed
that male with untreated anxiety problem face issues like aggressiveness, anger, change in
attitude and many more. There might be chances that they do not seek for help because young
males are highly unaware about the signs and symptoms related to depression or anxiety. Also,
some men with depression hide their emotions and may seem to be angry, irritable or aggressive
while many women seem sad or express sadness. Men with depression may feel very tired and
lose interest in work, family, or hobbies. They may be more likely to have difficulty sleeping
than women who have depression. Sometimes mental health symptoms appear to be physical
issues. For example, a racing heart, tightening chest, ongoing headaches, or digestive issues can

be signs of a mental health problem. Many men are more likely to see their doctor about physical
symptoms than emotional symptoms. As per the views of Harkness et.al., (2010) gender
differences exists in every aspect of life. For instance the methodology for performing any task is
also associated with gender. Like men must do work which involves physical strength and
women should not do them. Such discrimination in every aspect make it necessary norm for the
male community that they must not seek help from others. It is essential for them to present
themselves as dominant in front of others. This factor prevents them recalculate in seeking help.
Depression in men is being underrated. Society has inculcated a culture where young
males are seen as the toughest creature. They have a thinking that men have to be strong.
Weakness is not a masculine thing. All these reasons make individual reluctant to seek help.
Also, there is a tendency in man that they do not consider depression as a major issue which
needs assistance. Mannan et.al., (2016) says that males have an assumption that they can handle
every situation by themselves. This is one of the primary barrier which prevents young male to
ask for help or support. According to the research men thinks that it's weak and unmanly to
admit the feeling of hopelessness and helplessness.
Failure in recognising depression- Young men may think that the primary signs of
anxiety includes feeling of hopelessness, restlessness and exhausted. But they have no idea about
the other depressive symptoms like headache, anger, aggressiveness, irritability, nausea, chronic
pain, fatigue. Feeling of isolation and distraction can also be faced by men in this disorder. .
Neglecting signs and symptoms- Often young men have the tendency to ignore or
neglect the signs related to depression. They think that its quiet normal to feel like this. But, it
may sometimes lead to serious issues in their life. Most of the suicides occur because of
negligence of disorder (Mandelli, Petrelli & Serretti, 2015). Suppressing the mark of depression
worsen the condition and negatively impact the well-being of adult men.
Unwillingness to discuss depression signs- Men always have a tendency to hide their
emotions. They have an enormous self-control. Often young male feels that it's not manly to
express their feeling. Not sharing emotions with friends, family and health-care professionals
make the situation worst. This lay a severe impact on the psychological and physical condition of
an individual. As per the view of Parent, Gobble & Rochlen, 2018 when men express their
depression or suffering the matter is presented as highly strange and unrealistic event. The media

and society criticizes that how a man who represents masculinity can be such help seeker.
Without reality check the people make them guilty only due to gender perspective. Hence most
of the men are always unwilling to discuss their depression related issues.
Resisting mental health treatment- Often men are seek to avoid depressive symptoms,
they resist having treatment for it. This is because of various reasons like lack of awareness, no
knowledge about whom to consult, society pressure, cannot afford the diagnosis. Also, individual
think that seeking assistance from any other individual can hurt their male ego. It is also
discussed in Hammer & et.al. (2013) that the social structure expect from male community that
they do not present themselves as weak. The crying expression and expressing grief is only for
females, they are not supposed to do it. Such expectations make them highly resistive towards
seeking treatment for mental illness.
Interventions that have been attempted to assist men to engage in seeking help for depression
There are various interventions which encourages young man to take part in activities
which are designed to overcome depression. This may include-
Personal approach- Family member who have noticed the changes in behaviour of
young male can ask them personally about their problems. They can provide them emotional
support and encourage them to share their views and thoughts (Young Men, Help-Seeking, and
Mental Health Services: Exploring Barriers and Solutions, (2017). Friends may also encourage
them to take help from psychologist or any psychiatrist. They can make them understand that
depression has no link with their masculinity and sharing feelings has no relation with strength
and weakness.
Use of right language- The language used by health-care professionals or family
members during interventions needs to be appropriate. They should not be involved in making
use of harsh words. Male friendly speech is the intervention which can assist in encouraging
young men to take proper treatment for mental illness (Bechtold et.al., 2015).
Positive environment- Young men need to be encouraged to stay in positive
environment like with the individual who can share optimistic stories and have successfully
overcome depression by seeking assistance. This can lay positive impact on the minds of people
and it is possible that they ask someone to help them in fighting disorder.

The causes for anxiety and depression is different for all individuals. This disease is
extreme complex and can occur in any human for variety of reasons. Major factors which can
develop depression in men includes stress faced during severe illness or death of some closed or
loved ones. Family history can also be one of the major cause for this disease. All these factors
can make a man hopeless, restless, tired and exhausted. Often it has been noticed that persons
suffering from depression lose their interests in daily routine activities (Hammer & et.al. (2013)
Also, family or friends can ask them to work on self. Many healthy practices can be
adopted by them in order to fight depression. They can eat well, get plenty of sleep, get involved
in physical activities like exercise, yoga. Young men can talk about their feelings openly to
people with whom they are connected. They can also spend their time on activities which they
enjoy like hanging out with friends, watching films etc.
This can support them in viewing men with enthusiasm. Interventions used must have
clear objectives for encouraging boys to share their thoughts and feeling of fear. Peer needs to be
responsible for providing support which can help young men in improving their condition and
can also convince them to participate in activities which can assist them in fighting against
disease.
CONCLUSION
From the entire essay it has been summarised that there are various factors because of
which adult man faces severe problem like depression. The reason behind anxiety includes
family history, personal, professional, or employment problem. Male suffering from this have a
feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. Facing domestic violence Further, assignment
represented the issues which make men reluctant to seek help. This is because they feel that
showing and expressing emotions is not a symptom of masculinity. Also, society believes that
men are tended to be stronger and they do not suffer from problems like this. General beliefs
about masculinity also lays emphasis on individual's thinking and which encourages them to
have low interest in seeking help for depressive symptoms.
Untreated depression is one of the major reason for suicide in the country. People have no
awareness and education about anxiety that how dangerous it can be to one's well-being. Another
cause for not asking for help is assumption that their peers may not accept them. They might
think that the individual is lunatic. Although reluctance in seeking help can also be because of

various other reasons like: Essay concluded by deriving interventions which can help male in
seeking help of disorder that is like using right language and staying in positive surroundings.

REFERENCES
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Online
Young Men, Help-Seeking, and Mental Health Services: Exploring Barriers and Solutions.
(2017). [ONLINE] Available through:
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5734535/>