Help for Men Struggling with Depression
In the spring of 2006, the depression of two very successful men made newspaper headlines in Maryland: Phil Merrill, a renowned publisher, entrepreneur and diplomat in the Washington area took his own life. Eleven days later Montgomery County Executive Douglas Duncan withdrew his candidacy for governor of Maryland because of his struggle with depression. For weeks, newspapers covered male depression, including the stories of Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Archbishop Raymond Roussin, Mike Wallace, William Styron, Art Buchwald, and Robin Williams.
That was unusual. Because, in the majority of media stories and infomercials, depression is regarded as a feminine thing ... a result of all of the hormonal shifts and baby-making stuff. The reality? Six million men, or seven percent of American men, suffer from depression, and millions more suffer silently because they either don't recognize the symptoms, which can vary from women's, or they are too ashamed to get help for what they see as a woman's disease. These 12 techniques were written for men to address the hidden desperation so many feel, and to expose the truth about mood disorders and gender.
Therese J. Borchard writes the Beyond Blue blog on Beliefnet. Her new book, also called Beyond Blue, has just been published.
