Male depression: understanding the problems

Male depression is a serious illness, but many men try to ignore it or do not want to receive treatment. Find out about the signs and symptoms, and what to do.

Written by Mayo Clinic staff
Do you feel irritable, isolated or withdrawn? Do you find yourself working all the time? Do you drink too much? These unhealthy strategies to cope with the situation can be clues that you have male depression.

Depression can affect men and women differently. When depression occurs in men, it may be masked by unhealthy behavior to cope with the situation. For several reasons, male depression is often not diagnosed and can have devastating consequences when left untreated. But male depression usually improves with treatment.

Signs and symptoms of male depression

The signs and symptoms of depression may be different in men and women. Men also tend to use different coping skills (both healthy and unhealthy) than women, but it is not clear why men and women may experience depression differently. It probably involves a number of factors, including brain chemistry, hormones and life experiences.

Like women with depression, men with depression can do the following:

Feeling sad, desperate or empty
Feeling extremely tired
Having trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
Do not get pleasure from the activities that are normally enjoyed
Other behaviors in men that could be signs of depression, but that are not recognized as such, include:

Escape behavior, such as spending a lot of time at work or in sports
Physical symptoms, such as headaches, digestive problems, and pain
Problems with the use of alcohol or drugs
Controller, violent or abusive behavior
Irritability or inappropriate anger

Risky behavior, such as driving recklessly

Because these behaviors could be signs of or could overlap with other mental health problems, or could be associated with illnesses, professional help is the key to accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

Male depression is often not diagnosed
Depression is often not diagnosed in men for several reasons, including:

Lack of recognition of depression. You may think that feeling sad or emotional is always the main symptom of depression. But for many men, that is not the main symptom. For example, headaches, digestive problems, tiredness, irritability or long-term pain can sometimes indicate depression. It can also be isolated and seek distractions to avoid facing feelings or relationships.
Minimize the signs and symptoms. You may not recognize how much your symptoms affect you or that you do not want to admit that you are depressed, or yourself, or anyone else. But ignoring, suppressing or masking depression with unhealthy behavior will only worsen negative emotions.
Refuse to talk about the symptoms of depression. You may not be open to discuss your feelings with family or friends, much less with a doctor or mental health professional. Like many men, you may have learned to emphasize self-control. You may think that it is not manly to express emotions and feelings associated with depression and try to suppress them.
Resist mental health treatment. Even if you suspect you have depression, you can avoid diagnosis or refuse treatment. You can avoid getting help because you are worried that the stigma of depression can damage your career or make your family and friends lose respect for you.
Male depression and suicide
Although women try to commit suicide more often than men, men are more likely to commit suicide. That is because of men:

They use methods that are more likely to cause death, such as firearms.
They can act more impulsively in the face of suicidal thoughts.
They show fewer warning signs, such as talking about suicide.
If you have suicidal thoughts
If you think you can get hurt or try to kill yourself, ask for help without delay:

Call 911 or the local emergency number immediately.
Call the suicide assistance hotline. In the United States, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255) or use your web chat at suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat.
If you have suicidal thoughts, but you are not thinking of hurting yourself immediately, ask for help:

Approach a close friend or loved one, even if it's difficult to talk about your feelings