Mens Health

Recession puts mental health of men at risk

Published: May 11, 2009

Leading mental health charity Mind today (Monday 11 May) publishes the shocking new report Men and mental health: Get it off your chest presenting evidence that the recession is having an adverse affect on men’s mental health . Mind’s You Gov survey found almost 40% of men are worried or low at the moment and the top 3 issues playing on their minds are job security, work and money. A small number of men were even experiencing suicidal thoughts – of these, middle-aged men were much more likely than women to have suicidal thoughts. Middle-aged men currently have the highest suicide rate in England and Wales .

Mind’s Get it off your chest campaign aims to get men to recognise the importance of talking about their problems and is calling for a strategy on men’s mental health, to match the existing women’s mental health strategy. Supporters with personal experience include Lord Melvyn Bragg, Alastair Campbell, Stephen Fry, actor Joe McGann and Heart FM DJ Matt Wilkinson.

Mind’s new YouGov survey of over 2000 men and women found that:

  • 31% of men would feel embarrassed about seeking help for mental distress.
  • Just 14% of men (35-44yrs) would see a GP if they felt low compared to 37% of women.
  • 4% of young men (18-24yrs) would see a counsellor if they felt low compared to 13% of young women.
  • Only 31% of men would talk to their family about feeling low compared to nearly half of women.
  • Almost twice as many men as women get angry when they are worried.
  • 10% of men say they find sex the best way to relax compared to 4% of women.
  • Almost twice as many men as women drink alcohol to cope with feeling down.
  • Women are nearly 5 times more likely to get tearful than men.

    • 45% of men think they can fight off feeling down compared to 36% of women.

     

    Mind’s Chief Executive Paul Farmer said: “The recession is clearly having a detrimental impact on the nation’s mental health but men in particular are struggling with the emotional impact. Being a breadwinner is something that is still crucial to the male psyche so if a man loses his job he loses a large part of his identity putting his mental wellbeing in jeopardy. The problem is that too many men wrongly believe that admitting mental distress makes them weak and this kind of self stigma can cost lives.”

    Source:Mind, Mind is the leading mental health charity in England and Wales. We work to create a better life for everyone with experience of mental distress. www.mind.org.uk

Men defy stereotypes in defining masculinity

Published: August 26, 2008
Nude male, photographer unknown, c.1925, gelatin silver print. Collection of The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction.

Nude male, photographer unknown, c.1925, gelatin silver print. Collection of The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction.

Contrary to stereotypes about sexual performance and masculinity, men interviewed in a large international study reported that being seen as honorable, self-reliant and respected was more important to their idea of masculinity than being seen as attractive, sexually active or successful with women.

The study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine included interviews with more than 27,000 randomly selected men from eight countries (Germany, U.S., U.K., Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Italy and France), with about 16 percent of the men reporting erectile problems. [continue reading…]

When It Comes To Sex, Some Men Are From Mars, Others From Venus

Published: April 18, 2008

ScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2008) — A study by researchers at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University finds that men report a variety of different experiences involving sexual desire and arousal.

Men participating in focus groups expressed a range of experiences and feelings relating to such matters as the relationship between erections and desire, the importance of scent and relationships, and a woman’s intelligence. The Kinsey Institute study, appearing in the April issue of the journal “Archives of Sexual Behavior,” is unique because few studies so far have examined how closely the findings of decades of laboratory studies on sex actually reflect the experiences of men. [continue reading…]

New research finds link between lads’ magazines and obsessive exercise to improve body image

Published: March 28, 2008

weightlifter.jpgMen who regularly read ‘lads’ magazines’ are increasingly obsessive about their body image resulting in them doing excessive exercise and possibly taking steroids to improve their physique, according to a study by University of Winchester psychologist Dr David Giles.

Obsessive exercise to build muscular physique is a psychological condition that affects young men and has been dubbed ‘Athletica Nervosa’ by the media. Dr Giles’ survey, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, is the first British study to explore this condition.
[continue reading…]

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