“Man up”, “deal with it”, “a REAL man can handle anything”, how often have similar words been said to a man asking for help? To the detriment of men in the United States, a serious social stigma still remains that strongly discourages men from discussing, or seeking help for, mental health challenges.

Men experience mental health issues at roughly the same rate as women. However, men are significantly less likely to ask for help. Almost a full third of men who experience these challenges never seek help, and those that do report waiting at least a month to begin treatment.

Living with such challenges can be difficult, and unfortunately, the longer someone tries to endure in silence, the more difficult the path to recovery can be. Breaking the stigma of men’s mental health is important, and their loved ones play a key role in helping them to overcome their challenges.

How Can You Help Support a Loved One?

Supporting a loved one experiencing mental health difficulties can be challenging, but there are several effective ways to help:

1. Communicate openly and honestly

2. Be vigilant

3. Politely challenge negative behavior

Open and Honest Communication

One of the best ways to support a loved one going through a difficult time is to be open and honest about your own challenges. Routinely communicate with friends and family and be open to discussing mental health challenges in your own life.

Breaking stigmas starts with individuals challenging long standing beliefs. By creating an environment where it’s acceptable for the men in your life to discuss mental health, it can help make them feel comfortable to share their own difficulties with you. 

If you are showing your own vulnerability, be sure to communicate that you are always open and ready to listen to the difficulties of your loved ones in a safe and judgment-free conversation. Showing a man that he is not the only man who is experiencing mental health challenges is an important first step in breaking the stigma.

Be Vigilant in Your Interactions

Men often silently show signs of experiencing mental health difficulties. If you are beginning to notice behavioral, personality, or verbal changes in your friend or loved one, ask how they’re feeling and if they would like to talk about anything.

Be sure to make them feel comfortable and help them to understand that by sharing their feelings your perception of them will not change, nor will they be judged. Many men have a fear that by sharing how they feel they might be perceived as “weak” or “less than” by those they love.

By actively encouraging them to share any difficulties they might be experiencing, you will be normalizing discussion and helping to break the stigma.

Politely Challenge Negative Behavior

Stigmas are upheld by constant reinforcement of harmful societal norms, but we must remember that even though stigmas are set at a societal level, it is individuals who uphold them. If you overhear remarks, even those meant in a joking manner, resembling something like “men who experience depression should just man up and get over it” politely point out the harmful effects of those beliefs.

Some men hear remarks like this and silently reinforce the beliefs that they really should just be able to flip a switch and feel better. By allowing judgements to remain, we reinforce the stigmas that cause real-world harm to those we love.

If you’d like to know more about this point in particular, our guide on combating mental health stigma will show you more strategies that you can use to help change harmful stigmas that could be affecting your loved ones.

Breaking the Stigma Once and For All

By taking steps to start a discussion about getting help and embodying the changes we want to see, we create a safe space for loved ones to discuss mental health difficulties and seek treatment.

Open discussion of men’s mental health and breaking the stigma that surrounds it is an important step in helping men to overcome the difficulties they might be facing. By reinforcing positive communication, we can all do our part towards ending harmful stigma.

The Walker Center was founded to offer people hope, help, healing, and to support their recovery from mental health difficulties and substance abuse. If you’d like to learn more about how you can support a loved one contact The Walker Center to get mental health help now.