Men and Mental Health
Denial, Private Demons, and the Larger Culture!
The issue of men and mental health is one that periodically finds itself as the subject of discussion. Magazines such as Time, Newsweek, Men’s Health, and of course, Psychology Today have periodically run feature stories on the topic. Most of the time it is the subject of a guy or several men who have been overwhelmed with a helpless state of fear, despondency, or some related form of irrational behavior that has managed to consume their psyche.
The end result is often a deep level of mental anguish, reluctance to acknowledge the problem, fear, or a great awakening of some sort on the part of the man, or men, in question. While such an admission, more often than not, is a positive revelation on the part of these guys, the fact is that mental health is still considered a silent crisis for many men.
The reasons for this vary. Many experts attribute this fact to the growing number of pressures placed on men in our contemporary society. Rapid transformations ranging from work, family, and personal life have taken its toll on a considerable segment of men in our current culture. Views on mental health within one’s community, such as the opinions of Black or Latino men, as well as pressures from the greater community, must also be considered.
