The issue of Mental Health in men is a concern that the society fails to acknowledge and give priority to, yet it is just as important.
Mental health is a very sensitive area within a person’s life, as Men have become a central part of mental health because of being locked out in societal norms that keep their mental wellness in scraps.
A study conducted by the BBC in the United Kingdom, indicates that, suicide is the key killer of men aged below 45.
Men don’t get a listening ear often, as the society has set standards and formed illusionary ways of how an ideal man should think, look and behave like.
The effectiveness of the stereotypes has allowed a declaration that men should always be ‘Well’ and ‘Man enough’, to survive extreme conditions of life that maybe mental.
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Men today are discouraged from speaking up and admitting mental health problems they might be facing. For instance, if their business is going down the drain, or they are surviving a toxic relationship.
With the expectation that they will handle it, all the way from childhood broken boys are raised to torn men.
It is not surprising that the shredded men keep up with the same vicious cycle ending in a generational strain that rears mentally strangled men in the society, where sons should not cry.
However, there is only so much that one can take until they break. Men are no different. Why should we not prioritize men’s mental health just as we do women’s?
Why should they have to go through tough times alone just because they are that, men? It is unfair and quite frankly the major reason many men will choose to remain silent in the face of adversity.
It is why men sink into depression or lose themselves to the bottle as a distraction. Worst of them all, is that it is the reason why most men have looked to committing suicide as a form of reprieve from societal pressure.
Read also: The place of the boy child in a female empowering society
Society needs to understand that men too can and are allowed to go through tough times and not be okay with it. It needs to understand that men can and are allowed to speak up when shit hits the fan.
We as a society need to incorporate systems and platforms that look out for the well-being of men. For what it’s worth, it is for our husbands, sons, brothers, and fathers. Their mental wellness is no less important.
