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Men's Suicide: The Hidden Financial Crisis
On average 7 men a day die to suicide and another 48,750 men attempt suicide a day and the numbers haven’t been reducing instead the problem continues to spiral out of control with the latest Census data indicating the hidden crisis no one want’s to talk about.
Suicide is the 15th leading cause of death overall but it is the youngest killer with the median age of death by suicide being 44.8 years whilst all other causes of death came in at 82 years. The facts don’t get any better the deeper we dig with suicide in young men being the most common cause of death.
Suicide is a global issue that affects people of all genders, ages, and cultures. However, regardless where you look men are particularly at risk, with statistics showing that they are three to four times more likely to die by suicide than women.
Despite this staggering fact, the issue of men’s suicide often goes unnoticed and unsupported. So I decided to do a bit of digging to see what we could find, we’ll explore the top reasons for men’s suicide and how men are not supported in mental health.
Reasons for Men’s Suicide
Financial and Work-related Issues: Money and work problems can also contribute to men’s suicide. The pressure to provide for their families and maintain financial stability can be overwhelming, and job loss or financial difficulties can cause significant stress and depression.
Relationship Problems: Relationship problems, including divorce, breakups, and separation, are another common factor in men’s suicide. The loss of a relationship can be devastating and can trigger feelings of abandonment and hopelessness.
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Lack of Support for Men in Mental Health
Is it safe to open the can of worms? Why not, but gently… Despite there being a common belief that “Stigma” plays a part suggesting men don’t want to look weak this is not the case. In fact it is well known and generally agreed that general practices are “Female Oriented ”. This issue extends beyond general practitioners to all forms of support services.
While there is a misbelief that men don’t visit clinics for health check ups this is where we can start to see the system fail men. Published by the Australian Government; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 8 in 10 men visited a GP in the past 12 months with 1 in 10 men not being able to access health care when needed, 1 in 40 delayed their visits due to financial barriers and 1 in 20 experienced financial barriers in accessing prescription medication.
The “stigma” excuse goes out the window with the next stat indicating that 1 in 5 men spoke to their GP about their emotional and psychological health with the biggest age group doing so being 45 years and over, the high risk age.
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Where are we failing men?
The current data does not stack up to the current belief that men don’t visit doctors nor does it provide any evidence that we’re not talking about our feelings or well-being. It does however indicate a number of core failures with the first, young men are not a focus for mental health support.
But the biggest barrier that we face in society is that there are limited to no male specific services and the health and community sector continues to be driven with a primary focus on women who’s health services are funded 7.5 times more than men. What’s that look like in numbers? Women $1.1 Billion Vs Men $150 Million.
Not only is this staggering difference in funding leading to poorer health outcomes for men and no doubt contributing to the growth in suicide rates but it also opens the door for alternative forms of self medication and developing life long bad behavior’s. While there is no excuse for domestic violence, there is a probability that the above may lead to an increase in domestic violence.
Which brings us right back to the two leading causes of male suicide, Finances and Relationship break downs. While we have movements that are seeking equality in work, the main brunt of bread winning still falls heavily on the shoulders of men. This not only provides additional stress and pressure on men to be able to provide for their families, but also plays a role in relationships.
A 2017 article references the No. 1 cause for relationship breakdowns is due to financial stress.
It’s time we took another look at how we fund men’s services and in doing so, address more than one issue.
If you or someone you know is in need of support please call Life Line on 13 11 14
Men’s Suicide: The Hidden Financial Crisis
Images sourced from canva pro subscription. This is not financial advice and readers are advised to undertake their own research or seek professional financial services.
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An important topic. I'm aware of 3 men in my life (1 was a lover, 1 was a friend and 1 through my partner's work) who have all committed suicide in the last 5 years or so. And the only person who has ever reached out to me as a client who was suicidal was also a man. I know of zero women who have. Not that women don't face their own unique challenges, but this issue of suicide seems to be heavily associated with men.
I would argue that underneath all those financial stresses and relationship stresses is the real issue:
A lack of education of how to really deal with stress and huge societal stigma around actually feeling their feelings. While men might be telling their doctors they are having emotional challenges are they telling their friends? Their partners? Their bosses?
As long as we keep telling young boys that "it's weak to cry" and telling young men to "toughen up" the males in our societies will have no option but to stuff down everything they're feeling.
The best thing I can do for the men in my life?
Here's to the healthy expression of emotions to help more men stay !ALIVE 🤗
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Those are some really good points, often friendship circles aren't open about it all. I'm sorry to hear about your former partner and friends. It is certainly a sad situation.
Well done on your work and support
🙏 Here's to all of us having more brave conversations with anyone willing to listen to us and how we feel. ✨
I totally agree, It is time to start raising the bar for open discussions on the topic. It is a sad state of affairs when things become this dire. We need action!
But I also think we need to be having more open conversations about anything and everything we're feeling on a day-to-day basis. People don't suicide out of the blue, it's always been building and building in the background.
We reduce the chances of someone feeling so awful about their life that they want to escape it by talking with them and listening to them talk about their concerns, their challenges, the small things in their life so they never have to build up to the point of needing (such a dramatic) out.
I think this is a serious issue for sure and my personal opinion is, as we can see there is a massive and monumental attempt to demonize men and masculinity in western cultures especially the US. This is absolutely atrocious but in my sad opinion a desired outcome. Men are the ones that fight, stick up for their beliefs and have the ability to defend themselves and their families. Generally speaking of course, there are absolutely women who do this and they do it on different fronts but in the physical realm, I think this is intentional sadly. We know there’s a big and unfortunate agenda to try and reduce world populations with the overpopulation myth and this demonization and isolation of men is a big part of it. I truly don’t understand how people can think this cultural and metaphysical Marxism is a valid purpose and path. It’s so awful and unnecessary.
Well said and it is a major issue.
Life is indeed getting tougher for men especially is this modern age we live in and there seems to be no long term solution to this crisis. The 'swim or sink' concept is heavily taxing on men's overall health.
I sometimes just shut down, block everything out, go inside and just be. That way the accumulated voltage can be put on a reset, living to fight another day.
This is a very serious issue, men have been neglected for far too long, though am a woman, but the negligence the world have on men is saddening. Men on the other hand don't speak up, they feel they are men, they can handle everything and shouldn't be heard complaining. Financial problem takes the lead, the economy is not favourable, and as a man you shoulder alot of responsibility, and not having good streams of income is unimaginably depressing. I urge men to atleast try and speak up, gone are those days when we feel like we can handle any situation on our own, truth is we all need somebody. Sending love to all the striving men out there.
Without a doubt, suicide is a serious issue and it seems to be getting worse. Here in the US, mental health is even somewhat stigmatized... I remember discussing this with a therapist who pointed out that if we go to a medical doctor for a an annual checkup we're "responsible citizens," but if we were to go to a mental health doctor to "check in" society immediate presumes that we're "crazy" or "having issues."
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I know a few people and I think mental health has gotten worst as we have moved more digitally. Especially how social media applications have kind of made people think a lot less and this makes suicide the worst issue. I have seen a few friends get really messed up after a bad event and I really think there needs to be more done about it.
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