Men and mental wellbeing encouraging gender sensitivity

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Men and mental wellbeing encouraging gender
sensitivity

• Professor Alan White
• Centre for Mens Health
• Leeds Metropolitan University
• Chair, The Mens Health Forum
• a.white_at_leedsmet.ac.uk

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Mean annual consultation rates for psychiatric
disorders per 1,000 person years at risk, by age
Shah, McNiece Majeed, (2001)
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Mean annual consultation rates for psychiatric
disorders per 1,000 person years at risk, by age
Shah, R McNiece, R Majeed, A (2001)
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Mean annual consultation rates for psychiatric
disorders per 1,000 person years at risk, by age
Shah, R McNiece, R Majeed, A (2001)
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Mean annual consultation rates for psychiatric
disorders per 1,000 person years at risk, by age
Shah, R McNiece, R Majeed, A (2001)
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Mean annual consultation rates per 1,000 men
years at risk for specified psychiatric disorders
Shah, R McNiece, R Majeed, A (2001)
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Mens mental wellbeing?

• Men are three times more likely than women to
  become alcohol dependent
• Men are more than twice as likely to use Class A
  drugs.
• 78 of drug-related deaths occur in men.
• Stress is now the principal cause of disability
  from work

MHF 2006
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• 72 of male prisoners suffer from two or more
  mental disorders
• 84 of children excluded from school are boys.

MHF 2006
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Death rates for Suicide, for men and women,
across 36 countries
White Holmes (2006) Calculated from WHOSIS 2005
Mortality database
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Understanding mental health figures
Men behaving sadly (Royal College of
Psychiatrists 2001)
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Girls have the emotions 17 year old Afro
Caribbean male
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Young masculinities

• Boys must maintain their difference from girls
  (and so avoid doing anything that is seen as the
  kind of thing that girls do).
• (Frosh et al 2002)

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Knowing the words

• they young men withhold their feelings and
  have been charged with withholding their
  feelings, but often they dont know what it is
  they feel and cant vocalise it because they
  dont understand it.
• White 2001

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Recognising the problem
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Differences between men and women

• Women
• Feels sad and worthless
• Blames self
• Anxious and scared
• Uses food for comfort
• Am I lovable enough
• Overt unhappiness

• Men
• Feels irritable and angry
• Blames others
• Suspicious and guarded
• Uses alcohol for comfort
• Am I being loved enough
• Covert unhappiness

Diamond (2002)
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Male depressive syndrome?The big build

• Stepping over the line deliberate self-harm
• Hating me, hurting you aggression toward self
  and others
• Escaping it escape behaviour
• Numbing it self-medication
• Avoiding it avoidant behaviour

Brownhill et al 2005
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Creating a new future

• Reconstructing or resisting hegemonic
  masculinity
• Emslie, Ridge, Ziebland Hunt 2006

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The Equality Act 2006

• The duty is a general duty that applies to all
  public bodies and to private bodies providing a
  public service. In practice, it will
• require public authorities as employers or
  service providers to actively consider whether
  they are treating women and men fairly and
  meeting their different needs.

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References

• Brownhill, S., et al., 'Big build' hidden
  depression in men. Australian and New Zealand
  Journal of Psychiatry, 2005. 39 p. 921 - 931.
• Diamond, J (2002) 2nd World Congress on Mens
  Health see also www.menalive.com
• Emslie, C., et al., Men's accounts of depression
  Reconstructing or resisting hegemonic
  masculinity? Social Science Medicine, 2006. 62
  p. 2246-2257.
• Frosh, S., A. Phoenix, and R. Pattman, Young
  masculinities understanding boys in contemporary
  society. 2002, Houndmills, Basingstock Palgrave.
• Shah, R McNiece, R Majeed, A (2001)Socio-demograph
  ic differences in general practice consultation
  rates for psychiatric disorders among patients
  aged 1664 Health Statistics Quarterly Autumn
  2001 pp5-10
• Mens Health Forum (2006) Mind your head men
  boys and mental wellbeing National mens health
  week 2006 policy report. Mens Health Forum
  (England), London www.menshealthforum.org.uk
• White, AK (2001) A Scoping Study into Mens
  Health. Report for the Minister For Public
  Health. Department of Health (available from
  http//www.leedsmet.ac.uk/health/menshealth/pdf.ht
  m)
• White, AK, Holmes, M, (2006) Patterns of
  mortality across 44 Countries among men and women
  aged 15-44. Journal of Mens Health Gender
  3(2) 139-151(available from http//www.leedsmet.
  ac.uk/health/menshealth/pdf.htm)