Understanding Depression

The depressive disorder or depression is very common in people and is a serious illness in medical terms which negatively impacts people in how they feel, think and act. It is a fortunate thing that it is treatable (bhowmik, Srivastava, Paswan, & Dutta, 2012). It can cause feelings of sadness or a loss of interest in the activities which were once enjoyed by the person suffering from disorder. This disease can lead to various emotional and physical issues and easily can decrease a person’s capability to function at workplace and home. There are some symptoms of depression which may vary from serious to mild and they are: Feelings of sadness, loss of interest in activities, trouble in sleeping, less appetite, purposeless activities increase, increase in fatigue, feeling of not being worthy of living, becoming suicidal and difficulty in thinking and concentrating in work (Iyer, 2012).

This disease is one of the treatable mental disorders out of other mental disorders. Approximately 80 to 90 percent of people who suffer from depression will respond nicely to the treatment. All these patients gain some of the relief from the symptoms they are facing. There actually are number of things which people can do for reducing the symptoms of the depressions they are in. For multiple people going to the exercise regularly can create an assertive feeling and it also can improve the mood (Maina, 2016). For other people, sleeping regularly in time and taking enough sleep would become the nice treatment and helpful too.

There are various factors that can easily contribute to depression in adult men. They are as follows:

Genetics or Biology:  Twins, adoptions and family studies all are related to the depression to genetics, though researchers are not still confirmed about all risk factors related to the genetics when it comes to depression (ManiMala , Gautam, & Reddy , 2016). In addition to that, most of the researcher’s doubt that having the parents or siblings who suffer from depression might actually be risky for the other people in the family.

Chemistry Imbalance in Brain: This disease is believed to be started due to the imbalance in the neurotransmitters that are related to the regulations of mood. These neurotransmitters are chemical substances that supports in the various areas of the brain connections with each other. While some of the neurotransmitters are short in supply, it might lead to few of the symptoms that are recognized as clinical depression (Matar & Jaalouk, 2017).

Causes of Depression in Men

Hormones in Body: It is widely known that women suffer from major sort of depression as compared to men. It happens due to the depressive disorders which peak while women start their reproductive years. It is believed that there are hormonal risk factors which can be blamed for the depression.

Circadian Rhythm Disturbance: There is this on type of disorder which is known as seasonal affective disorder and it is believed to be started buy the disturbance in the circadian rhythm of the body. The light that enters in the eye affects the rhythm and in the shorter days of winters, while people might spend very less time in the outdoors, this rhythm might become disturbed and hence, leads to depression in adults. People who live in the areas which are comparatively colder and the days are shorter and dark; they might be at the highest risk (Schimelpfening, 2018).

Poor Diet: People who have poor diet are easy victims of depression in various ways. There are a variety of the vitamin and the minerals which are necessary for the body to have. If these minerals and vitamins are not present in the body than that body is more prone to go into depression. There have been studies which have found out that the body has low omega 3 fatty acids or the ratio of the omega 6 and omega 3 is bad, there is high chance for that person to be prone to depression. Also, people whose diets involve high sugar can also lead to depression (Fekadu & Shibeshi, 2017).

Physical Health Issues: A person’s body and mind both are linked with each other. In case if the person experiences the physical health issues, that same person might find out some changes in the mental health as well. The illness linked with the depression in two ways. The stress of continuing with the illness might trigger the episode of huge and in depth depression. Also, there is some of the particular illness like thyroid disorders etc. diseases which might cause the symptoms of depression.

Drugs: Some certain drugs and alcohol can lead to huge depressive disorders. There are some of the prescriptions drugs also may lead to depression (Sarokhani, 2013). The drugs which are linked with the depression are corticosteroids, benzodiazepines, statins, anticonvulsants etc.

Life Events: There are certain life events which are very stressful and they overwhelm the capability of the people for coping up with these events and this might lead to depression. There are high levels of hormone cortical that are secreted during the times of stress. All this might contribute to depression.

Symptoms of Depression in Men

Grief and Loss: In case if there has been any loss of any loved one in anyone’s life the individual’s grief and experience most of the similar symptoms like depression. They might face trouble in sleeping, loss of enjoyment in the activities are very normal symptoms which are related to depression (Health, 2018).

There are various factors due to which men do not seek any kind of help in the times of depression.  

Failure in recognizing the depression: The first obstacle few of the men face is that they are so out of touch from their feelings and emotions that they themselves do not just realize that they are facing this issue of depression (Lynch, 2018). Most of the boys actually learn from other children and their parents that they should not display their vulnerability or any sort of pain to others.  Instead they should be able to suppress their feelings and emotions like crying or facial expressions so that by the time they become adults, they are actually unaware of their emotions and not be able to describe their feelings at all in words. The reality is that even when the men know that they are depressed, abusing alcohol or have any other kind of issue, they still will not be ready to go towards any psychologist or any other mental health consultant. One might think that if men feel sad or emotional, it is always the major symptom of depression. Yet for most of the men, it is not the first symptom (Johnson & Oliffe, 2011). Examples: Headaches, issues with digestive problems, tiredness, irritability and long term pain are the symptoms which might indicate the depression. Hence, they seek distraction for avoiding the dealings with the emotions and the relationships.

Downplaying the signs and Symptoms:

One may not recognize that how much the symptoms can affect people or there will be times when people might not be ready to admit to themselves or to any other person about their depression. Hence, they start ignoring, masking or suppressing the behavior which is unhealthy and this might worsen the negative emotions.

Discussion of symptoms: Men may not talk openly about the emotions with their family or other close people. Then it is obvious that they definitely would not be comfortable in talking with the professional of mental health as well. Hence, most of the men learn to focus on self-control. They do it mostly because of the discomfort of going to the mental health professional or sharing their depression (Aboge, 2015).

Why Men May Not Seek Help

Treatment: Men are usually considered as the whole and sole bread earners in the families. They are very reluctant of taking the treatments of any sort of health unless it is harming their physical health. They do not want to give tensions to their family members unnecessarily and that is why they just do not want to convey about their depression as they will have to then take the treatment of depression as well (Rongrong, 2015).

Masculinity: Some of the men think that if they inform about their mental health to their family members or close friends, they will lose their respect and people might make fun of them. Men are usually taught to not share their emotions out loud in front of others even when they are facing certain issues in life. This is directly related to their masculinity. And for men, their masculinity is important (Lerman, 2018).

Social Norms: There are people who might worry about the society as they think that society will look down on the man who is not tough enough or who cannot help themselves or behave normally. Even of the men seek counseling; they will keep on having this fear of what others will feel about them (Santos, 2016).

There are people especially men who just do not want to seek help from the mental health consultants due to the factors which are discussed above. There might be number of ways in which the improvement in taking help could be encouraged.

Encourage Treatment: People who suffer from depression usually do not share their feelings. It might be due to the lack of awareness of the symptoms that depression has or for any other reasons. This stigma of looking for the treatment for the disease can easily cause people in attempting to recover on their own with time. The disease also gets better without treatment but it can also worsen with time. It might be tough to encourage treatment in people who does not even acknowledge this disease. Hence, it is important to consider the points and report about that person to any of the consultant. One should always notice the changes in the person which they might feel unusual. One can suggest a practitioner while talking to the person with depression while making them realize about their symptoms. One should let the sufferer know about the impacts that he or she may have if treatment is not taken. One can also offer to accompany the person with disease if they are uncomfortable in seeking help. One can also help in making them prepared about the questionnaire the practitioner can ask and vice versa.

Encouraging Men to Seek Help

Compassionate Listening: In case of the loved ones are internalizing the emotions, he or she may feel overwhelmed when the loved ones share their concerns about probable symptoms of depression. The best thing at that point of time is to use compassionate listening. The depression of the loved one cannot be fixed by the people who are care takers but they can listen to their feelings and they should relate with them and assure them that they are with them.

Be Helpful: One should make the sufferer feel comfortable at first so that the person with the disease feels okay to share the feelings and then one can help them in coping with their daily tasks so that the sufferer does not feel suicidal at least (Zartaloudi, 2011).

This essay focuses on the mental disorder which is known as depression. Depression is one disease which can cause many issues in the life of a sufferer. The symptoms include issues in sleeping, feeling suicidal, lack of hunger etc. A person can totally lose control in his life if facing depression. This essay focuses on the factors which actually contribute toward the depression in adult men. Men are usually not willing to go to the psychologist. Hence, the issues which support in the reluctance of the men in seeking help are discussed. In addition to that, there are some suggested ways which can improve help seeking in men. These ways are also mentioned in this essay. In the conclusion, it can be said that depression is a disease which can worsen without the treatment but if taken proper counseling and with the help of the loved ones, it can be treated nicely and the person can come back to normal and live life in a healthy way.

References:

Lynch, L. (2018). Young Men, Help-Seeking, and Mental Health Services: Exploring Barriers and Solutions. American Journal of Men’s Health, 12(1), 138-149.

Johnson, J. L., & Oliffe, J. H. (2011). Men’s discourses of help?seeking in the context of depression. Sociology of Health and Illness, 34(3).

bhowmik, D., Srivastava, S., Paswan, S., & Dutta, A. S. (2012). Depression – Symptoms, Causes, Medications and Therapies. THE PHARMA INNOVATION, 1(3).

Iyer, K. (2012). Depression – A Review. Research Journal of Recent Sciences, 1(4), 79-87.

Maina, G. (2016). Anxiety and depression. Journal of Psychopathology, 22, 236-250.

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Fekadu, N., & Shibeshi, W. (2017). Major Depressive Disorder: Pathophysiology and Clinical Management. Journal of Depression and Anxiety, 6(1).

Sarokhani, D. (2013). Prevalence of Depression among University Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Study. Depression Research and Treatment.

Health, N. I. (2018). Depression. Retrieved September 15, 2018, from https://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/dmhas/publications/miscl/MH_Fact_Sheets/NIMH_Depression.pdf

Aboge, F. A. (2015). The Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms among Sensory and Physically Challenged Persons Living with HIV/AIDS Attending Clinics in Nyanza Province, Kenya. Journal of Depression and Anxiety, 4(2).

Rongrong, N. (2015). P300 for Depression: An Underestimated Neurophysiological Tool. Journal of Depression and Anxiety, 5(1).

Lerman, S. (2018). Religiosity prevalence and its association with depression and anxiety symptoms among Hispanic/Latino adults. Plos, 13(2).

Santos, E. R. (2016). Prevalence of Depression and Depression Care for Populations Registered in Primary Care in Two Remote Cities in the Brazilian Amazon. Plos, 11(3).

Zartaloudi, A. (2011). What is men’s experience of depression? . HEALTH SCIENCE JOURNAL, 5(2).