Male Mental Health in Canada
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/07/27
Dr. Rob Whitley in Psychology Today commented on the mental health of men.He spoke to the ways in which there may, indeed, a rather silent and unspoken to mental health crisis for men. He notes that there is a higher prevalence of a wide variety of men health issues in men.
Some have common markers including suicide and substance abuse. He stated that about 75% of the suicide victims in the US are male. Would the numbers be reflected in Canada as well?
He posited, “Men living in small towns and rural areas have particularly high rates of suicide. Indeed, flyover states such as Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico and Utah have the highest rates of suicide in the country. Alaska also has very high rates. This has been attributed to various factors. One factor is the massive decline in traditional male industries such as manufacturing, forestry and fisheries, leaving large swathes of men in certain regions unemployed or under-employed.”
He considers the current faltering economy for men who want to and are expected to fulfill the breadwinner role in a difficult circumstance without jobs and good paying ones. It becomes a hit to their very sense of intention and meaning in life. He also looks at the high rates of problems for the veterans, Indigenous people, and gay men. The problems are then rejected by the wider society and men then alienate and isolate.
“Substance use is a predominantly male problem, occurring at a rate of 3 to 1 in comparison to females. Substance abuse is sometimes referred to as ‘slow-motion suicide,’ given that it can often end in a premature death for the person concerned,” Whitley explained, “Research indicates that many men engage in substance abuse in response to stressful life transitions including unemployment and divorce. Indeed, almost 50 percent of marriages end in divorce. Many men report negative experience in family courts, with data suggesting that only about 1 in 6 men have custody of their children, often with minimal visitation rights.”
Those lacks in the lives of some adult men can lead to varying forms of hurt, emotional pain and psychological destabilization in the lives of the men. He speaks within the context of men in America. However, this seems easily extrapolated to the Canadian context, so as a North America commentary rather than simply an American one.
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