Anxiety & Depression in Men: The Signs of Depression Men May Experience
Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Depression, also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes you may feel a sense of hopelessness and/or that life isn’t worth living.
Depression is more than an occasional bout of the blues. Feeling depressed or having been diagnosed with depression does not mean you are weak, and you can’t simply turn depression off or snap out of it. Sometimes depression may require long-term treatment. But don’t get discouraged. Once a person with depression begins to get some counseling or medication or both they begin to start feeling better.
Anxiety is a nervous disorder characterized by a state of excessive uneasiness and apprehension, typically with compulsive behavior or panic attacks. It is usually accompanied by feelings of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. While Depression and Anxiety are two different medical conditions, their symptoms, causes, and treatments can often overlap.
Anxious feelings and stress are a common response to a situation where we may feel under pressure, they usually pass once the stressful situation has passed, or ‘stressor’ is removed.
Anxiety is when these anxious feelings don’t go away, when they’re ongoing and happen without any particular reason or cause. It’s a serious condition that makes it hard to cope with daily life. Everyone feels anxious from time to time, but for someone experiencing anxiety, these feelings aren’t easily controlled.
More than 5 million men in the U.S. experience depression each year.
Clinical depression seen in both men and women can cause sadness and a loss of interest in once pleasurable activities. But depression can sometimes manifest in different ways with men and women, the symptoms used to diagnose depression are the same regardless of gender, often the chief complaint can be different among men and women.
Men with depression often aren’t diagnosed for several reasons, including:
Failure to recognize depression. You may think that feeling sad or emotional is always the main symptom of depression. But for many men, that isn’t the primary symptom. For example, headaches, digestive problems, tiredness, irritability or long-term pain can sometimes indicate depression. So can feeling isolated and seeking distraction to avoid dealing with feelings or relationships.
Downplaying signs and symptoms. You may not recognize how much your symptoms affect you, or you may not want to admit to yourself or to anyone else that you’re depressed. But ignoring, suppressing or masking depression with unhealthy behavior will only worsen the negative emotions.
Reluctance to discuss depressive symptoms. You may not be open to talking about your feelings with family or friends, let alone with a health care professional. Like many men, you may have learned to emphasize self-control. You may think it’s not manly to express feelings and emotions associated with depression, and you try to suppress them.
Resisting mental health treatment. Even if you suspect you have depression, you may avoid diagnosis or refuse treatment. You may avoid getting help because you’re worried that the stigma of depression could damage your career or cause family and friends to lose respect for you.
Suicidal thoughts: Women are more likely to attempt suicide, but men are more than four times as likely to die if they do attempt suicide. One reason is that men tend to choose more lethal methods. They more often use firearms and kill themselves the first time they try. Older men are at highest risk for suicide, and doctors may miss depression symptoms in this group. In fact, more than 70% of older suicide victims saw their primary Care Physician within the month of their death.
Signs and Symptoms of Depression:
Fatigue
People who are depressed undergo a series of physical and emotional changes. They can experience fatigue, as well as psychomotor retardation, or a slowing down of physical movements, speech, and thought processes. Men are more likely than women to report fatigue and other physical symptoms.
Sleeping too much or too little
Sleep problems such as insomnia, waking up very early in the morning, or excessive sleeping are common depression symptoms. Like fatigue, sleep troubles are one of the main symptoms that depressed men may discuss with their doctor.
Stomachache or backache
Health problems such as constipation or diarrhea, as well as headaches and back pain, are common in people who are depressed. But men often don’t realize that chronic pain and digestive disorders go hand in hand with depression, according to focus groups conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health.
Irritability
Men who are depressed often show signs of irritability. If they talk about an emotional component, it could be sadness with irritability. In addition, negative thoughts are a common aspect of depression. Men will report feeling irritable because they are having negative thoughts constantly.
Difficulty concentrating
Psychomotor retardation can slow down a man’s ability to process information, thereby impairing concentration on work or other tasks. Depression can also cause negative and intrusive thoughts. This can slow you down because you see things in a negative way. As a result it makes it very difficult to focus on anything.
Anger or hostility
Some men manifest depression by being hostile, angry, or aggressive. A man who realizes something is wrong may need to compensate by demonstrating that he is still strong or capable. Anger and hostility are different than irritability as anger tends to be a stronger emotion. The hostility shows up when men have withdrawn as a result of their depression and feel under pressure by friends or family to rejoin society.
Stress
Men might be more likely to report symptoms of depression as stress. It’s not that they have more stress; it’s that it’s more socially acceptable to report it. Feeling stressed can be an indicator of having clinical depression but also be part of the cause. Research has shown that prolonged exposure to stress can lead to changes both in the body and brain, which can in turn lead to depression.
Anxiety
Research has shown a strong link between anxiety disorders and depression.
Men may be no more likely than women to experience anxiety in fact, anxiety disorders are about twice as prevalent in women but it’s often easier for men to talk about feeling anxious rather than sad. Men may discuss concerns about work and whether the loss of a job and having to provide for themselves and their family. However thy may really be worried or fearful.
Substance abuse
Substance abuse frequently accompanies depression. Research has shown that alcoholics are almost twice as likely to suffer from major depression as people without a drinking problem. It can happen for both men and women, but using drugs or alcohol to mask uncomfortable feelings is a strategy many men will use instead of seeking heath care. There’s a cultural bias of, “I should be able to fix this myself and so I’ll use what chemicals I have available to me to do that.”
Sexual dysfunction
Depression is a common reason for loss of desire and erectile dysfunction (ED) and it is one symptom that men are more likely not to report. Performance problems can come from depression and make depression worse. However, ED can be the result of other medical conditions or medications (including antidepressants), and ED by itself does not signal depression.
Feeling Overwhelmed and Indecisive
Some men may say “I had money in the bank but the phone got shut off because I couldn’t bring myself to pay the bill or decide what to do it gets overwhelming.” Some people naturally have a hard time making decisions, so an inability to make choices is usually worrisome only if it’s a new behavior. “It’s an information-processing issue,” and depression slows down your ability to make decisions.
Asking for help can be difficult for most men. But without treatment it is unlikely the depression will just go away. Untreated depression can make you and the people close to you miserable.
If you have any of these symptoms even though it may be hard to discuss your feelings you need to:
- Make an appointment with your doctor, other health care professional or mental health professional.
- Reach out to a close friend or loved one even though it may be hard to talk about your feelings.
- Contact a minister, spiritual leader or someone in your faith community.
- Consider joining a men’s health group that deals with depression.
- Call a suicide crisis center hotline.
Depression can cause problems in every aspect of your life, including your health, career, relationships and personal safety. Depression, even if it’s severe, usually improves with medications or psychological counseling or both. If you or someone close to you thinks you may be depressed, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional. It’s a sign of strength to ask for advice or seek help when you need it.
Jim Katsoudas
