Depression in men: communication, diagnosis and therapy

Women are diagnosed with depressive disorders twice as frequently as men, and yet evidence from differential rates of substance abuse, incarceration, and especially suicide calls into question the assumption that men are less susceptible than women to depression. It is possible that there is a “masculine” form of depression that is under-diagnosed and under-treated. Health professionals should work toward a greater understanding of cultural masculinity in the service of conceptualizing, diagnosing and treating male clients/patients who may be suffering from a disguised form of this common mental illness. Therapists who treat conventionally gendered male clients/patients should educate these men about masculinity as an important context of their problem, and should attend closely to issues of emotional expression, premature termination of therapy, and grief.