Mental Health is often not spoken about enough amongst men with many people often overlooking how a friend may feel in a difficult situation. The general thought process of the men and everyone else is that when it comes to mental health, is that you have to deal with it alone as it is only affecting you.

Many people often wish they were someone else as they believe the person, they wish to be must have it much easier than they do. However, this is not always the case as all people experience pain and sadness. The truth is that people within society struggle with mental health issues, similar to sporting talents. Most people see these athletes do incredible things and often perceive them as something greater or someone to look up to with a common misconception that they can’t be like them in any way.

 An example of this is Welsh footballing legend Gary Speed. Speed was a Premier League legend with 535 total appearances within his tenure and at the time of his death he was also managing the Welsh national team. On the 26th November 2011, Speed was on Football Focus alongside Gary McAllister and host Dan Walker talking about the previous week of Premier League football. Just a day later, he was found dead in his home by his wife Louise Speed. There is very little insight into his mental health and how he felt as friends described him as “level headed” and a “good laugh”. Speed is an example of not only mental health within sport, but mental health as a whole. Nobody knew of the struggle he was experiencing until it was too late. 

I believe that there isn’t enough emphasis on how men are affected by mental health struggles. For example, people are more focused on preventing someone’s breaking point, instead of helping them mentally. A counter argument for this is Men’s Mental Health month. However, I disagree with the entire belief behind dedicated months for specific groups of people within society. This is because it is something that should be promoted all year long, and not constricted to only 30. 

An old stereotype within society is that men shouldn’t cry and for them to be “strong”.  Even without being told this, I believe the media has set a subconscious mindset that men should be stern and also uphold and live up to expectations. These expectations are also often without being a burden to another and also without much input. In my opinion, there are very few scenarios where two men are with each other and ask how one another are really doing without a major incident occurring (such as the passing of a family member).

 I believe this is because if someone was to ask “how are you?”, it is much easier to respond with “I’m fine” instead of explaining the reason that has made you upset. Women also experience mental health issues all the same as men but I think the dividing point of the two genders is how they speak to friends about it. This is shown as women are more often diagnosed with depression and to attempt suicide, however men’s suicide rates are still several times higher. Holding in all of the things affecting you can be extremely draining and stressful; therefore, finally releasing yourself of the stress can be very uplifting and helpful when dealing with this burden. 

Severe mental health struggles can often lead to suicide. Suicide is the biggest killer for men under 45 with men being 3 times more likely to commit suicide than women in the UK. In 2016, the World Health Organisation declared there was 793,000 suicides worldwide. With men taking up 75% of this, it equals to around 594,750 men committing suicide each year. For reference, in a single calendar year, there are 525,600 minutes. This means that one man takes his life every minute or less. Everyone experiences struggle in their own way, so there is no excuse for asking how a friend is doing. You never know what a mate is going through unless you ask them yourself.