Maybe Men Are Supposed to be Depressed?

I added a question mark at the end of the title only to articulate this as a question rather than a statement. I found an article through Revolution Health about men facing depression. Apparently 6 million American men will be diagnosed with depression this year alone. But the stats say even more will suffer through this silently.

So what’s happening here? Are men being stubborn as usual, not accepting a mental illness? Or maybe life is full of struggles and things are not always ideal and so when we get down we immediately chalk it off as depression? Again there is that question mark. I have felt depressed before but I can honestly say I have never felt so depressed that I can’t function in society. So I can’t really relate to this illness first hand. I feel 6 million (plus the silent ones) is a large number. Is it an over reaction, or an obsession on health? Or is it really 6 million + men are seriously depressed?

Symptoms of Depression

* Feeling sad or unhappy
* High levels of anxiety
* Low energy
* Difficulties concentrating
* Feeling worthless or hopeless
* Losing interest in activities or people
* Weight loss
* Loss of appetite
* Loss of sex drive
* Lapses in personal hygiene, such as not bathing or shaving as regularly
* Thoughts of suicide

Other people may notice that:

* You are performing less well at work
* You seem unusually quiet, unable to talk about things
* You’re worrying about things more than usual
* You’re more irritable than usual
* You’re complaining more about vague physical problems