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Assignment 1: LASA 2: Final Project: Final Research Paper
Men and Depression
[Name of the Writer]
[Name of the Institution]
Men and Depression
Abstract
Depression in men is one of the major concerns of public health. The clinicians have started to take an interest in this issue, and it is not yet fixed by psychiatrist how to respond to these crises. Depression is one of the problems emerging among both the genders; however, men are more vulnerable to it because they are reluctant to express their mental health issues. In this study, we will focus on the reasons for the depression in men in the modern age, and the signs and symptoms of men depression. Many factors cause depression in men; however, we will focus on two major sources of depression such as psychosocial issues, and economic issues. Moreover, we will also study the consequences of depression in men such as suicidal ideations, and other major diseases. We will study quantitatively the responses of men struggling with depression. Data will be collected through a stratified sampling method.
Men and Depression
Introduction
Depression is a common mental disorder that is continuously growing in this modern age. The ratio of symptoms of depression in men and women are almost the same. However, men are less likely to express it. Mostly it is observed that men hide their mental issues and irritated when asked about their depression. The depression in men can lead them to suicidal ideation. The rate of suicides in men is more than women. Depression is the mental disorder which causes the patient the symptoms of sadness, loss of interest in the material world, lack of concentration and focus, tiredness and pain in the body, reluctant to socialize, loss appetite, lower self-esteem and feeling guilt (Rungreangkulkij et al., 2018). The reasons that cause depression are financial problems, unemployment, other major medical illness, significant changes in life, loss of a loved one, and work stress. These are some of the major causes of this mental issue that mostly lead to suicidal ideation and other serious diseases. According to Dewey (2013), Japan is one of the least depressed countries in the world, having the rate of diagnoses less than 2.5 percent. While in Afghanistan the rate of depressed male is the highest across the globe. In Afghanistan, every fifth person is suffering from depression, which is the highest rate of depression, and they are ranked number one in this issue, due to political and economic instability. Social, economic and emotional factors drag men towards depression, and there is a need for counseling for men that most of them don't want at any cost. However, the loved ones can become a support system for men in depression. It has been revealed by many studies that depression causes drug addiction, unethical practices, and suicidal ideations in men. While depressed women are less likely observed to harm herself, society, and involvement in illegal and unethical practices.
Research Question
There are two research questions for our study to investigate the complete sense of this study which is given as under:
Why are the men at more risk of depression in the current age?
What does the depression causes in a man?
Objectives of the study
The objective of this study is to find out the reasons and symptoms of depression in male community in the USA. The research proposed the following objectives of this study based on one dependent variable that is depression and two independent variables; first IV is the reason of depression in men, while the other is the symptoms of depression. There are numerous reasons for the depression in men. However, this study will focus on only a few reasons because of the time constraint and limited resources. We will study the psychosocial aspect such as loss of loved ones. The economic issue for depression in men is unemployment and financial crises. It will cause further complications such as suicide and other mental illnesses.
To investigate the reasons behind higher depression rate in man as compared to a woman.
To examine the causes and symptoms of depression in man.
Importance of the study
This study will highlight the mental health issues in man, and its consequences in various aspects of a man’s life. Depression is the growing disease of the present age, as the advancement of means and sources and availability of all the luxuries at our doorsteps. However, the depression is found soaring despite these facilities, as the ease in life increase it causes more complexity and mental disasters. There is a lot of literature on the causes and factors of depression in a woman and its consequences. However, there is very little literature on the depression in men. Our study will contribute a slight contribution to this issue and its symptoms and reasons. To highlight this issue by various researchers, a specific set of actions are expected to be taken to cope with this significant psycho-social issue. Men never reveal their problems of mental illnesses especially depression and anxiety, and man is found more vulnerable to suicidal ideation. There are more men die every year especially the age 15-29 years in a year, that is several times higher than women counterpart.
Hypothesis
There are two hypotheses of the proposed study based on the literature/.
Hypothesis 1: There is a positive relationship between depression in men and the psychosocial and economic issues.
Hypothesis 2: There is a negative relationship between depression in men and the psychosocial and economic issues.
Hypothesis3: There is a positive relationship between depression in men and the suicides and other mental disorders.
Hypothesis 4: There is a negative relationship between depression in men and suicides and mental disorders.
Literature Review
According to Young and Morgan (2018), revealed that physical fitness also influences the mental status of a man, most of the men with obesity and overweight are found depressed. The unbalanced diet and overeating in depression also cause obesity. Both depression and obesity are inter-related and are highly correlated. Although this factor has affected both the genders. In Australia 70% of the obese people are suffering from major depression, they face more chronic diseases and are found three times greater than other people to commit suicide and die. The depressed men usually become alcoholic and drugs addicted. They seek satisfaction and peace of mind in such negative and harmful addictions. The drugs and alcoholism cause major medical health issues such as cancer, heart diseases, kidney, liver, and lungs disease and can lead to cancer. Major depression causes suicide ideation, and it is found that suicide is the second leading cause of death in the USA. In the world suicide is the leading death cause among the people age group 15-29 years old. As compared to women, men commit more suicide, as they don't express their mental stress and sadness in front of people. Men are found less likely to consult with doctor their mental health issues including depression, anxiety, and other psychological disorders. Men mostly consult with psychiatrists for the job stress, lower performance at workplace, lower sexual performance, loss control on anger, and grief of the loss of their loved ones (Oliffe, 2017). Depression in man is positively correlated with unemployment and uncertain economic and political conditions of a country. A society where the employment rate is higher people is found less depressed, while economically less stable states are found more exposed to depression, other mental health issues, suicides, and drugs addictions.
Depression can be treated by various methods, such as by medicines, counseling and sessions, and spirituality and religious practices. All these techniques are effective and widely practiced around the world, which has significant results. No such evidence proves ineffectiveness of anti-depressant medicines for men as compared to women (Ogrodniczuk & Oliffe, 2011). In many countries men are considered as the bread earner for the family, they have more responsibilities as compared to women, so the unemployment and financial crises can lead them to depression and anxiety. As a young boy grows up and develop, he learns the socioculturally prescribed role and responsibilities of a man. Moreover, man is considered to be mentally strong and should support his family in any crises and disasters. However, all human beings regardless the gender hold certain emotions, and the external environment influences them. As a sociocultural pressure, men hide their sorrows and sadness, that ultimately lead them to depression. There is a famous phrase that big boys don’t cry, they hold there emotions inside that results in the suicidal attempts, drugs addictions, and other mental and behavioral disorders. According to Murray (2015), the depression and its effects on men are profoundly different from women, issues related to the loss of loved ones have a remarkable impact on man throughout his life. Unlike the woman, man hides his grief behind his long term silence, alcohol addiction, and the lake of interest in being socialized. Depression is the medical illness related to the behavior and feelings of the person. It causes the feelings of sadness and the loss of interest in the routine activities.
Gallo and Matthews (2003) argued that negative emotions and cognitions are associated with the economic condition of a person and the physical and mental health of a person. The socioeconomic issues are strongly linked with psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety. To cope with mental problems the doctors, psychologists, spiritual scholars, and other agencies working according to their knowledge and techniques, however, the fast-growing world has consequently soared the anxiety, depression, and suicide cases (Macdonald, 2009). Suicide attempts are the prominent issues in the world, especially the in the USA. It is a significant social and public health problem that has substantial adverse effects on the society, suicides are common among the Native American community, especially in the adult's age range 15-24 years. The Native American suicide rate is the highest compared to other ethnic or cultural groups in America. According to CDC (2012), the suicide cases of this group is 2.5 times higher than the annual national statistics of suicide. In this group suicide the second leading cause of death among the stated age group. Thao et al., (2015) asserted that people suffer due to lack of self-awareness and self-actualization, they don’t know their real self- as they are disconnected from their spiritual status of being, and their strength such as their inner wisdom. So the lack of awareness and knowledge leads the Native Americans to commit suicide, proper counseling by the spirituals to realize them the actual purpose of our being, and what other responsibilities we have, which are worthy and undeniable. Those Native Americans who have a strong spiritual relationship with other fellows are likely having significantly less suicidal behavior than other peers.
Methodology
Sampling Technique
There are many techniques used for targeting the population for the study; such sample techniques are random, systematic, multistage, and stratified techniques. However, for our study stratified technique is more effective, as the population is vast and scattered. Stratified sampling technique is a probability-based method which is used for large populations, divide the entire population into various subgroups or strata, which allow the researcher to select the final subjects achieved from these different strata (Shields et al., 2015). Data are collected from all the communities in USA regardless of their race, class, community, religion, and national of origin.
Generalizability of the sample
The data collected from the respondents don't belong to a specific field or class. The sample was collected from the people belong to the different background so it can be generalized on the whole population. Generalizability of the research is based on the variation of participants and the scope of the data collection.
Participants
The questionnaires were distributed among 400 participants, out of which 362 participants responded with complete information, rest of the questionnaires were discarded. Responses were collected from target respondents categorized on the basis of age groups, employment, and the family status and breakups, etc. 52 respondents had an unsuccessful relationship and breakups, while 48 percents had a better family life. Moreover, 62 percent of respondents had financial crises that caused the depression, while rest of the 38 percent respondents were financially sound status. 70 percent of the respondents were alcoholic and preferred other drugs during their hardship, 65 percent of the participants had no intention to visit the psychiatrist to overcome their sorrows and get over their mental illness. In the open-ended questions, most of the participants revealed that they were considering suicidal ideation during their extream level of depression.
Instruments
For the data collection from participants adopted questionnaire was used. The questionnaire is thean easy and accurate way for data collection. These questionnaires were distributed among the participants belonged to different groups. There were two types of questions, the close-ended questions, and open-ended questions. The close-ended questions were measured through lickret scale with five options, varied from strongly disagree to agree strongly. The initial problems were about the demography of the participants, such as; age, gender, income, age group, job, relationship status. Other questions were regarding the lifestyle, breakups, family crises, financial crises, the loss of loved ones, and the reactions of the participants. The open-ended questions or free-text questions were also included to find the views of participants regarding the barriers they faced during their hard time.
Ethical Issues
It has been noticed that men with depression are more likely to violate the moral and ethical issues. A depressant doesn't know exactly about his mental disorder and doesn't realize what is happening to him. The break the rules of ethics in their daily life, it has been evident in the men with depression. They don't consider that their actions will hurt other people, most of the men with depression preferred to be isolated, or they got invole in drugs addiction and alcoholism. Many psychologists and other counselors suggest the depressants spirituality and religious practices to overcome their mental instabilities.
Conclusions
Family issues and financial crises are the two leading factors that cause depression in men. It has been observed that unlike women men are reluctant to discuss their mental disorders with others, and they are found hesitated while consulting with their physician. Depression in men consequently raises the suicidal ideation, drugs and alcohol addiction, and negative and unethical practices. Knowing and actively investigating the signs and symptoms of depression in men during this study, it would be suggested that the organizations, social groups, family, and the government should spread awareness and help the persons with depression through medical treatments and counselings.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2012). Deaths: Leading causes for 2008, National Vital Statistics Reports, 60(6), June 6, 2012.
Gallo, L. C., & Matthews, K. A. (2003). Understanding the association between socioeconomic status and physical health: do negative emotions play a role?. Psychological bulletin, 129(1), 10-51
Le, Thao N., and Judith M. Gobert. "Translating and implementing a mindfulness-based youth suicide prevention intervention in a Native American community." Journal of Child and Family Studies 24.1 (2015): 12-23.
Murray, J. (2015). Understanding Loss: A guide for caring for those facing adversity. Routledge.
Ogrodniczuk, J. S., & Oliffe, J. L. (2011). Men and depression. Canadian Family Physician, 57(2), 153-155.
Oliffe, J. L., Kelly, M. T., Bottorff, J. L., Johnson, J. L., & Wong, S. T. (2017). “He’s More Typically Female Because He’s Not Afraid to Cry”: Connecting Heterosexual Gender Relations and Men’s Depression∗. In The Psychology of Gender and Health (pp. 177-197).
RUNGREANGKULKIJ, S., KOTNARA, I., KITTIWATANAPAISAN, W., & ARUNPONGPAISAL, S. (2018). Loss of Control: Experiences of Depression in Thai Men. Walailak Journal of Science and Technology (WJST), 16(4), 265-274.
Shields, M. D., Teferra, K., Hapij, A., &Daddazio, R. P. (2015). Refined stratified sampling for efficient Monte Carlo based uncertainty quantification. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 142, 310-325.
Young, M. D., & Morgan, P. J. (2018). Effect of a Gender-Tailored eHealth Weight Loss Program on the Depressive Symptoms of Overweight and Obese Men: Pre-Post Study. JMIR mental health, 5(1).
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