Masculinity and Help Seeking Among Men with Depression

 

Everyone feels sad or low sometimes, but these feelings usually pass with a little time. Depression (also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression) is different. It can cause severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working. It is an illness that can affect anyone regardless of age, race, income, culture, or education. Genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors can play a role in depression. Depression may occur with other mental disorders and other illnesses, such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and chronic pain. Depression can make these conditions worse, and vice versa. Sometimes medications taken for these illnesses cause side effects that contribute to depression symptoms.

While depression among men is becoming better understood, men still underutilize counselling services. The Efficacy of a Male-Sensitive Brochure about Counselling Worldwide, depression leads to the loss of 850,000 lives every year through suicide. One of the three leading causes of death among men and in Zimbabwe has become the most common reason for men’s deaths. Most of men suffering from depression do not seek help, in our Shona  culture a man was brought as the strongest, if a boy child gets hurt he is  told“ boys don’t cry, crying Is for girls”, this however has caused a lot of men in our society to bottle up a lot of emotions , even when going through a lot they do not open up even to their wives as they believe that if you cry it means that he Is weak but not knowing that sharing their thoughts and seeking professional help  actually makes them stronger , as most men have a lot self-stigma that they say to themselves, “I would feel inadequate if I go see a therapist for psychological help”. Concerns about self-stigma may be particularly relevant for men because traditional male gender roles require men to be independent and in control of their emotions. This can increase apprehension about seeking help, due to fears of feeling dependent and not in control if they were not able to handle an emotional issue on their own. Therefore, if a man perceived that he needed psychological help, he may feel like he has failed as a man, which would make the act of seeking counselling less likely. When a man is depressed, he may mask underlying depression with externalizing behaviours such as workaholism, substance use, aggression, recklessness, and withdrawing from family and friends. Different men have different symptoms, but some are common depression symptoms include: problems with sexual desire and performance, thoughts of suicide or suicide attempts, feeling sad, very tired, not being able to sleep or sleeping too much, physical aches or pains, headaches, digestive problems, engaging high risk activities, irritability. There are several causes of depression, which include genetic-a man with family history the illness is likely to suffer with depression. Environmental factors such financial problems, loss of a loved one, difficult relationship, major life changes and also illness.

To combat this international issue, as Zimbabweans we have to hold depression awareness campaigns across the country to educate the public about the disorder and its treatment, and to encourage earlier treatment utilization. Campaigns targeting men specifically have started to be implemented, could use peers who have experienced the same disorder so they can become the spokes’ person and also acknowledging the difficulty of seeking help as a man. Also use the traditional language a man can understand and replace the word therapist with consultant. It is important that friends and family support their loved ones an encourage him to visit a doctor or mental health professional for an evaluation. Depression can be treated using antidepressants and psychotherapy “talk therapy”. Most importantly our society try to be more kind to the boy child and many and say no to stigmatization.

 By 

Takunda Caroline Gambura 

Registered Intern Counselling Psychologist  Maters’ student at Great Zimbabwe University