Men and Depression

I was very pleased to see this article in the Observer a couple of weeks back: Depressed men missing out on treatment. The problem is that the descriptions of depression and the diagnostic criteria are heavily skewed towards women's experience of depression. Men often do not experience depression in the same way. In particular while women tend to turn in on them selves, men by contrast "can become animated, aggressive and angry". This sums up my own experience of depression. The negativity gets played out! And no one seems to understand, least of all me.

The article came from a press release by Paul Farmer of the charity Mind, who have a campaign to try to improve access to mental health help for men.