Men and Mental Health

Once again, I am talking about a stigma around mental health.  There are so many stereotypes around mental health and people that are suffering internally.  Men, unfortunately, experience this more, simply because of their gender.  It’s a shame that society dehumanizes people with a mental illness, simply because our ancestors weren’t educated on the topic.  They did not have as much knowledge on it, so now that we have learned more it’s looked at as not normal.

            One of the biggest ways we can end this stigma is by starting young.  When we have little baby boys, we should not be telling them to stay strong and hide their emotions.  This unconsciously sets them up to think that having emotions makes them less masculine than other boys, making life a competition on who can be the “manliest.”  If we started telling little boys that expressing their emotions is okay, then they will grow up to be more communicative and hopefully shift society.

            Adults should also be encouraged to talk about their feelings.  It is not healthy to bottle emotions up and hold them within.  This goes for anyone.  However, guys do it most often because they are taught to do so.  If we can make a more conscious effort to end this, then we can hopefully change this for the generations to come.  It just takes one person to start this trend in the world.

            In the end, we just need to be courteous of the fact that everyone is struggling with their own internal battles.  One person’s struggle may be very different from the next and everyone handles their obstacles differently.  We should be able to express our feelings to a trusted friend and not feel any judgement. Unfortunately, this is the case for most men, and that is something that deserves change.  Men should be able to feel comfortable sharing their internal struggles and not feel like they are weak for letting them out.  If anything, it takes a strong man to overcome this stigma.

-Written by Jessica Skrelunas, Intern