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Men's depression, help-seeking and heterosexual relationships : a secondary gender analysis

University of British Columbia

Men’s depression is a complex health care issue in Canadian society. Depression has negative impacts on many aspects of men’s lives including work performance, school achievement and relationship success. Adherence to hegemonic masculine ideals including strength and self-reliance lead some men to keep depression hidden amid broader social stigma whereby mental health challenges are often equated with weakness. Heterosexual men who experience depression rely heavily on relationship support from their women partners and often refuse to seek help from health care providers or engage with public health services. In order for men’s depression services to be effective, they must celebrate hegemonic masculine values including leadership and strength while acknowledging the key role women partners play in encouraging depressed men to seek help. Results include how depressed men go to great lengths to keep it hidden, attempt self-management, say that they want help but seldom make efforts to seek it, rely heavily on their women partners for support, make efforts to shield women partners from the most negative aspects of their condition and acknowledge that their women partners are critical to their recovery.

Text

2014-04-15

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/46436

Nursing

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/