I went the conference “Putting men into mental health” held in Somerset.  It was good to see so may men willing to talk about men’s mental health and men empowered to share their story. Of course there were women present and we need their help in overcoming the inequality in men’s mental health.

There is a huge gender inequality in men’s mental health.

• 78% of deaths by suicide are male
• 73% of adults who ‘go missing’ from home are men
• 87% of rough sleepers are men
• More than two thirds of drug related deaths occur in men

Men often have mental health needs that are distinct from those of women and which are particularly associated with the lived experience of being male.

• Men are more unwilling to seek professional help
• Men appear less likely to recognise or act on warning signs
• 73% of women who are depressed have talked to someone about it but only 53% of depressed men have.

(Source Men’s Health Forum)

The are many complex and cultural issues surrounding men’s health and simply put being a man is part of the problem. We think we need to be ‘a man’, be strong, be masculine and yet these same beliefs perpetuate the unspoken problem of men’s mental health.