International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities
Depression is the most common of all mental disorders. Almost one in four persons will be diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives. Of special note to scholars who study men and masculinity is the consistent discrepancy between men and women in rates of depression. The most recent epidemiological data available indicates that women are almost twice as likely to experience a depressive episode over the course of a lifetime as are men.
Notwithstanding these rates of depression, in the United States alone it is estimated that at least 6 million men suffer with depression each year. To further compound the seriousness of the problem of undiagnosed and untreated depression in men, the rates of suicide are significantly elevated in men when compared with women.
For all ages and races, men commit suicide more frequently than women.
Researchers have begun to uncover important relations between the effects of traditional gender role socialisation, masculinity ideologies and elevated risk for depression in men. Traditional masculine values that pertain to restricting emotional expressiveness and avoiding seeking help have been found to be associated with elevated risk for depression. Moreover, problems such as alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence and problems with anger and aggression also appear to be closely related to depression in men.
In addition to these important empirical findings, several proposals have been made that call for an expansion of how social scientists and mental health professionals view depression. This expansion argues for recognition of the gendered nature of the concept of depression and for a re-evaluation of the widely accepted standardised criteria used to diagnose depression codified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association. Expanded criteria for diagnosing depression in men would recognise how men are socialised to suppress or hide the traditional symptoms of depression such as depressed mood, sadness and crying. Expanded criteria would take into account the potential co-occurrence of alcohol and substance abuse, anger and violence in men’s depressive episodes.
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