A recent Health.com article on depression among men, highlights several differences in how depression is expressed by men as compared with women. Some of the highlights include:
- Depressed men tend to talk more than depressed women about feeling fatigued, sleeping too much or having trouble sleeping at night, or experiencing other physical symptoms of depression – stomach ache, back ache, etc. Depression can be very physical for men.
- Women suffering depression tend to talk about feeling sad. Men suffering depression talk more about feeling irritable, angry or hostile. Irritability is a general crankiness. Anger and hostility tend to be stronger emotions.
- Research has been showing a strong link between anxiety and depression. While saying “I’m depressed” for a man is often seen culturally as showing weakness, men are more willing to talk about feeling anxious.
- Men often won’t call what they’re experiencing “depression.” But they often will call it stress. They’ll talk about the fatigue, physical symptoms, anger and irritability and then say, “I’ve been under a lot of stress lately.” The truth is that stress can begin a cascade of chemical and hormone changes in the brain and body that lead to clinical depression. Stress is a frequent onramp to depression.
- Men are likely to turn to drugs and alcohol as a strategy to mask uncomfortable feelings rather than seeking care.
- Loss of sexual desire and erectile dysfunction are symptoms of depression…and men really don’t like to talk about them. They can be symptoms of depression, and they can also be contributors to depression.
Particularly interesting, however, were the comments responding to the article. A number of respondents questioned the litany of symptoms. “Life is not perfect and I could have at least one of these symptoms every day” said one person. Good point. So here are a couple other things to keep in mind before you decide “depression” is bogus or before you diagnose yourself as being depressed based on the list of symptoms:
- One can’t diagnose based on a single symptom…one must look for clusters of symptoms.
- Depression isn’t diagnosed based on day-by-day experience. The symptoms must be experienced basically all the time for two weeks or more.
So if you – or a man you care about – have been feeling these kinds of things and wondering if it might be depression, it’s a good idea to call a mental health professional or a doctor. Research shows that depression can be effectively treated with psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of the two.
Photo by Robby McKee used under Creative Commons License