Depression in Men: Find out more about Male Depression

Male Depression

Frequent Questions about Depression in Men:

What are the most common signs of male depression?

Aggressive Behavior:

Aggression is always a sign that something is wrong and in many cases it is a product of a depressive disorder.

No women should ever put up with any form of male aggression and vice versa. Psychological abuse is even worse than physical and needs to be appropriately addressed.

Aggressive behavior is one of the most common signs of depression in men. It is in their nature to hit or break something when they are stressed. This is tolerable only if children are not around, the damage is not big, and nobody is hurt physically or emotionally, including himself.

If a man is aggressive with his girlfriend, wife, children etc, in any way, he needs to be confronted and must go to therapy. The promise: "I won’t do it again" is just not enough because he will do it again. In psychotherapy he will be treated for his depression and he will learn how to manage his aggressive impulses.

One of the main reasons why depression in men is sometimes not recognized in time, or at all is the fact that male aggression is accepted as something normal. It is not normal for a man to be aggressive with anybody in his surroundings. That kind of behavior will only cause more problems and deepen his depression.

Alcohol Abuse: Alcohol abuse can cause, deepen or prolong depression. Depressed individuals must avoid alcohol because any amount of alcohol is too much for them. Alcohol and depression should never be mixed.

What causes depression in men?

What exactly causes depression in men is not known for sure, however one thing is certain: stress, genetic makeup, alcoholism, trauma and health problems can cause or contribute to depression in men.

Getting divorced, moving to another city, getting married, becoming a father, losing a job etc, are all events that can trigger depression in men. As you can see even good events such as becoming a father is stressful and sometimes can trigger a depressive disorder.

What are the symptoms of male depression?

· Irritability

· Excessive working

· Abusive behavior

· Shame

· Insomnia

· Social withdrawal

· Anger

· Chronic pain

· Headache

· Unexplained pain

· Impotency

· Risk taking behavior

How can I help my depressed husband?

The best thing you can do for your husband, if he is depressed is to get him into psychotherapy. In psychotherapy he will learn about his disorder, coping skills and start healing. Only a trained professional can treat a depressive individual, other people can only make things worse.

Even though you yourself cannot treat your depressed husband you can still do many things to help him get through his depression. You can learn what he needs and in what way you should give him the things he needs. This you can learn best in family therapy which is strongly recommended just for that reason.

Love, understanding and appropriate support are essential for successful treatment. The problem is that many individuals do not know how to deliver their support in the right way to their depressed spouses. This causes even more problems and friction which is really unfortunate because there are only good intentions.

What is the best treatment for male depression?

The best treatment for depression in men is psychotherapy. There are many kinds of psychotherapy and many other tools that can be used along with psychotherapy. Antidepressants are one of those tools that can be very useful but should be used only if necessary.

There are also many natural supplements that can be used instead of antidepressants which doesn’t mean that they are harmless and that they should be used without professional supervision.

Depression in men can be treated very successfully but unfortunately many depressed men never get help because their depression is not recognized.

This is why recognizing depression in men is so important and everything should be done to make it easier. First thing that needs to be done is to accept that aggressive behavior is not normal male behavior.

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