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by Cassie White Suicide is the leading cause of death in young men, yet figures suggest mental illness is more common in women. So what is going wrong? Published 13/06/2013
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Male suicide statistics in Australia are grim.
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Men are three times more likely to kill themselves than women and suicide is the leading cause of death in men aged between 15 and 44. In 2011, almost double the number of young men died by suicide compared to fatal car accidents.
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Yet although men are more likely to die by suicide, the incidence of mental illness is actually higher in women. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures suggest at some point in their lives one in five men experience anxiety and one in eight will have depression, whereas for women one in six experience depression and anxiety affects one in three. But men are less likely to get the help they need, with other ABS data showing only 27 per cent of men seek professional help, compared to 40 per cent of women. In many cases men turn to drugs or alcohol instead of getting assistance, this is especially so with men under 25. Substance abuse tends to compound mental health problems, and can cause many men's lives to spiral out of control. Often by the time young men are asking for help, health professionals only see a drug or alcohol problem, not the underlying illness. Jack Heath, SANE Australia chief executive officer, says young men are often put off from seeking help because of stigma, embarrassment and the need to appear independent. Instead, they stick it out on their own, hoping the problem will go away.
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"There are notions of masculinity and what it means to be a man that prevent them from getting help," he explains.
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"There's a belief that the very idea of being a man is that you deal with stuff and you don't reach out or connect. Untreated, the problem snowballs. The combination of that and the notion of having to deal with it alone, is the reason behind high suicide rates."
Why men respond differently Genetics, substance abuse, a traumatic childhood and relationship issues are the most common reasons people can develop a mental illness. Although the causes are the same for everyone, Professor Ian Hickie, from the University of Sydney's Brain & Mind Research Institute, says experts still don't know exactly why men respond differently. "There may be hormonal and brain developmental differences between men and women that we need to understand better, particularly during the teenage period when the rates of development of the brain are different," he says. "And there are social reasons, like the extent to which young men are introduced to alcohol – at a young age in high volumes – as a way of socialising and coping with anxiety around sexual relationships and exploring life outside their family."
Irritable and angry Someone who has a mental illness will often withdraw from friendship groups, have poor sleeping habits, struggle to concentrate and stop being productive at work or study. But where women often feel sad and tearful, young men are more likely to be irritable, angry and frustrated, which causes them to lash out at people – especially if drugs or alcohol are involved, Hickie says "These problems are seen by the rest of the world as an angry difficult person who's hard to get on with," he explains. "You don't see the mental health problems that lie behind that." When men get older, they experience more classic signs of depression, such as sadness, guilt and
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