Monday, July 16, 2012

Redundant and discarded

The number of suicides and prevalence of suicidal tendencies is rising faster among older men than in any other age group, according to research.

Jane Powell, the mental health charity Calm chief executive, speculated that the recession might be having more of an impact on older men."If you are middle-aged just now and your job and life prospects are diminishing then this is tough," she said. "There is work to show that the impact of unemployment hits men harder, and later on in life"
Powell said there were two reasons for the discrepancy. "First, because men are by default supposed to be in control, in charge at all times and so therefore needing help is by definition unmanly. And second because all too often men don't recognise what the problem is – they'll feel out of control, angry with everything, find that their life is out of focus, not be interested in what's happening around them – and they won't recognise that they are depressed. And because as a man they're supposed to be invulnerable, then suddenly the options they have of getting out of their situation start to look very slim."


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