Coping With Depression: A Man's Battle

Are men more vulnerable to depression than women? People believed that men can handle emotional problems better than women, until recent findings showed that men are more prone to depression. According to the study conducted by the experts,there are half more men who suffer from depression than women each year.

Depression is a mental illness that could adversely affect both genders. But what makes a huge difference is that men do not usually seek help whenever they have problems, unlike most women, so men tend to become more vulnerable to depression because of their bottled up feelings. Why are men reluctant to seek help?

There are lots of factors that hinder men from asking for help but the most pressing problem is the social expectation that they have to cope with. According to the standards of our community, admitting feelings of depression is a sign of weakness (and sometimes even of homosexuality).

Men seem to be continually fighting a losing battle against depression. It is very alarming to find that in America, 80% of suicides are men. Most of them do not recognize the signs of depression until it becomes too late. What are the symptoms of depression that we need to be aware of?

There are lots of manifestations of depression. One common sign is the sudden lose of interest with things that you once found enjoyable. Other symptoms that usually arise are the feelings of emptiness, pessimism, unending tirednedd or fatigue (usually not related to your activities), losing your appetite, body ailments that do not respond to treatment, and worst of all, suicidal thoughts.

Depression could also exist with other sicknesses such as the post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the most common of which is the obsessive compulsive behavior. In this case, the obsessive compulsive behavior should be treated before the depression could be totally cured.