Depression in Men

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Last year, 63,000 men died from stubbornness. They were depressed and they didn’t get help. It adversely effected their health and made them irritable, and uncomfortable to be around. They pushed away the women and children who loved them, cost themselves career advancements, and untold billions of dollars in lost revenue. How can America claim to be a leading nation in research, technology, healthcare and scientific advancement and still allow its men to suffer like this?

Of every four men, one is suffering with undiagnosed depression, and it is probably killing him. Men are culturally trained to be successful, not confide in other men, be tough and certainly not talk from our hearts.  So most men don’t say anything about being depressed. They access their depression as being tired, fatigued, stressed and pressured. Depression adversely affects a man’s sense of romance and definitely affects his sexual appetite and bedroom performance. Men are four times more likely than women to complete the act of suicide. 70-80% of all suicides in America are men. Men access anger and impatience easier than depression, and we self-medicate ourselves into numbness with drugs, alcohol, and seeking out risky behavior.

It’s silly too, to carry this silent killer when you realize that depression is easy to diagnose and easy to treat with some combination of talk therapy, exercise and sometimes medication. The men I see in my office lead happier, healthier, sexier lives. They often owe a debt of gratitude to the woman who can sense the depression and urges them to seek my assistance. The men I work with have good hearts, want to live well, and trust the recommendation from their woman.