Newsweek Feature: Men and Depression

The February 26th issue of Newsweek has a cover story on men and depression. In it, Julie Scelfo writes:

"Six million American men will be diagnosed with depression this year. But millions more suffer silently, unaware that their problem has a name or unwilling to seek treatment.

Although depression is emotionally crippling and has numerous medical implications-some of them deadly, many men fail to recognize the symptoms. Instead of talking about their feelings, men may mask them with alcohol, drug abuse, gambling, anger or by becoming workaholics. And even when they do realize they have a problem, men often view asking for help as an admission of weakness, a betrayal of their male identities."

The article discusses recent new discoveries in the causes and treatment of depression.

I raise the issue here because of the convergence of several important trends :

1. Most men tend to keep their feelings to themselves

2. Many men are silently struggling with midlife crisis

3. Many try to deal with their struggle by numbing it with alcohol, drugs and other means.

4. Prolonged stress can lead to depression.

As you may know from my other posts here, I work with men struggling with unease and restlessness in their lives that I call the Disquiet. I have found that this Disquiet is related to men's sense of success, both professionally and as men.

I have just written an article about the new findings about depression in men and how it relates to Disquiet. The key here is the ignoring or numbing of Disquiet can lead to depression. If you are struggling with either a "full blown category 4" midlife crisis or you are just aware of a background hum of unease and are ignoring it - watch out. If it's causing ongoing stress, you could fall into Depression.

To see if you might have the signs of depression, you can check out either my article or the Newsweek article for a simple 10 question survey that the medical professionals are using to help identify depression in men.

To read my article, click here.

Bottom line: If you think you are depressed or suffering from a lot of stress over time, do not ignore it. Seek out help. The Newsweek article profiles many men who now have great lives because they sought out treatment.

You are not alone and you do not need to suffer.

To read the Newsweek article, click here.

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