New push to help men and their mental health during suicide awareness month

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - During September, there’s a renewed push to make people more aware of mental health resources, especially for men.

September is Suicide Awareness Month and the latest CDC data shows more than 38,000 men died by suicide in 2021. It’s the highest rate in 20 years, and it’s about four times higher than women.

A National Institutes of Health study showed men are significantly less likely to get help for mental health difficulties compared to women.

Experts say that’s because men face mental health challenges in a “unique way.” This means instead of getting help they try to fix the problems themselves.

Experts say the second issue is how men handle expectations from society and the stigma around how they deal with them.

”So if you have a man in your life or a work colleague that’s a guy and they’re showing signs of irritability, anger or excessive workaholism maybe try looking underneath that because there could be depression that’s driving that and if a guy is depressed and doesn’t realize it, they might not be getting help,” PHd in Neuroscience and CEO of Mental Anson Whitmer said.

One of those resources out there is this app called mental. It’s specifically geared toward men. There’s motivational speeches you can listen to, talk to someone who inspires you with the help of AI and even coaching and action plans to get your mind in the right place.

The app is free to download.

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