Men and Depression

People most often may think that feeling sad or down is always the main symptom of depression but for many men, that is not the case. When depression occurs in men, it may be masked by unhealthy coping behavior. These unhealthy coping strategies, such as feeling irritable, isolated and/or withdrawn, working yourself all the time, and/or drinking too much, may be clues that you have male depression.
Men with depression often go undiagnosed for several reasons. Those reasons include, but are not limited to: Failure to recognize depression, reluctance to discuss depression symptoms and resisting mental health treatment. Many men may not be open to talking about their feelings with family or friends, let alone with a health care professional. They may have also learned to emphasize self-control, or have been brought up to believe it is not manly to express feelings and emotions associated with depression, thus trying to suppress them. Men may avoid getting help because they are worried that the stigma of depression could damage their career or cause family and friends to lose respect for them. Male depression usually gets better with treatment.
 
Men with depression may:
    * Feel sad, hopeless or empty

• Feel extremely tired
• Have difficulty sleeping
• Not get pleasure from activities they once enjoyed

Other behaviors in men that could be signs of depression — but not recognized as such — include:
 

• Escapist behavior, such as spending a lot of time at work or on sports
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Controlling, violent or abusive behavior
• Irritability or inappropriate anger
  
• Risky behavior, such as reckless driving