Male Mental Health Today

MALE 
MENTAL HEALTH 
TODAY
menshealthforum.org.uk

WHO ARE WE?
The Men's Health Forum is the leading charity
supporting men's health in England, Wales and
Scotland.
Our aim is that all men and boys have the
information, services and treatments they need to live
healthier, longer and more fulfilling lives.

DEATHS UNDER 65
20%
80%
MALE
One in FIVE
men will die
before they
are even old
enough to
retire!

SYMPTOMS
1 in 5 women have symptoms of common mental
disorders (CMDs) compared to just 1 in 8 men.
Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey

SYMPTOMS
1 in 5 women have symptoms of common mental
disorders (CMDs) compared to just 1 in 8 men.
Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey
Women also more likely to
have severe symptoms.

TREATMENT
35%
65%
IAPT
TWO-THIRDS
of those
referred to
IAPT are
women.

SO, MEN 
ARE OK 
THEN?

73% of people who go missing are men.
87% of people who sleep rough are men.
Men are THREE times more likely to be dependent  
on alcohol or drugs.
66% of drug-related deaths are men.
95% of prisoners are men. (72% of male prisoners
suffer from two or more mental disorders.)
MAYBE NOT…

Men are nearly 50% more likely than women to be  
detained compulsorily as psychiatric inpatients.
Men commit 86% of violent crime and are twice as  
likely to be victims of violent crime.
Over 80% of children permanently excluded from  
school for behavioural difficulties are boys.
Most perpetrators of domestic violence are men 
(all but one of the 239 women killed by a partner or
ex-partner in 2018 were killed by a man).
MAYBE NOT…

SUICIDE
75%
25%
MALE
3/4 of the
people who
take their
own lives are
men.

SUICIDE
75%
25%
MALE
It is the
leading cause
of death of
men under 50
in the UK.

KEY POINTS
1. Male mental health problems
are under-diagnosed.
They are often only recognised once symptoms lead
to social problems (crime, violence, suicide). Support
today rather than punishment tomorrow would
benefit both the men concerned and the wider
community.

KEY POINTS
2. Services need an approach
that is gender-sensitive.
Services should also be age and culturally sensitive.
One size does not fit all.

KEY POINTS
3. There may well be a tension
between what men want and
what services provide
Examples include such basics as opening hours and
data collection. This tension can create barriers which
need to be honestly identified and addressed.

SO, WHAT WORKS?
Academic
Review
Movember Foundation
Leeds Beckett University
Ten Recommendations…

SO, WHAT WORKS?
1. Understand the obstacles
A US meta-analysis identified certain population
groups for whom stigma had a disproportionate
effect on help-seeking: people from Asian, Arabic,
African American and other minority ethnic groups;
young people; males; and those in military and health
occupations.

SO, WHAT WORKS?
1. Understand the obstacles
• Some barriers real - eg opening hours
• Some perceived - ‘they won’t understand me’
Whatever they are, you need to demonstrate
practically in your outreach, publicity and behaviour
that these barriers do not exist or can be overcome.

SO, WHAT WORKS?
2. Communicate with men in a
way that respects the way they
see their maleness
Men have poorer mental health literacy, tend to rate
symptoms less seriously and believe they have
greater control.

SO, WHAT WORKS?
2. Communicate with  
men in a way that  
respects the way they  
see their maleness
Language matters but men don’t  
all talk the same

SO, WHAT WORKS?
3. Be positive about men and
boys
Men and boys are not a problem to be ‘solved’ or a
group to be ‘reached’ but have value of themselves.

SO, WHAT WORKS?
4. Have clear objectives that
service-users can understand
Solution-oriented with ‘goals’ rather than a
generalised ‘helping’ process.

SO, WHAT WORKS?
5. Consider shared activity
Coming together to ‘do something’:
• addresses stigma - not overtly about mental health.
• allows relationships to develop, and discussion to
arise, in a more natural way
• enables men to ‘give’ skills and experience as well
as ‘take’ advice and support.

SO, WHAT WORKS?
6. Choose the ‘right’ setting
Find male-friendly spaces (could include virtual ones).
• Schools
• Workplaces
• Sports-settings
Perhaps not traditional ‘health’ settings

SO, WHAT WORKS?
7. Include peer support
Perhaps these work because:
• a sense of having experiences in common reduces
any sense of threat and
• has positive impact on those providing the support

SO, WHAT WORKS?
8. Publicise positive examples
Positive (media) stories about men with mental
health problems may encourage help-seeking among
the male audience. Stories about hope and recovery
seem most likely to have this effect, especially where
they feature men who are either admired in some
way or who can be easily identified with.

SO, WHAT WORKS?
9. Look ahead
Successful interventions do more than provide a
service. They work towards positive social change and
constructively challenge mainstream services where
necessary. They also challenge stigma and exclusion.
These objectives are particularly important in the
drive to improve male uptake of services.

SO, WHAT WORKS?
10. Build-in evaluation and share
Understanding of ‘what works’ in male mental health
has come a long way but is still hampered by the
shortage of good research.

Beat Stress: free, confidential and
anonymous information,
signposting and online chat on
mental health and wellbeing for
men.
2016-17
BEAT
STRESS

Aim to remove the barriers to help-
seeking present with traditional services
through:
• discussion of topics not commonly-
raised in traditional settings,
• cost-effective earlier intervention,
• appropriate signposting and
• ‘permission’ to use those traditional
services.
BEAT
STRESS

Built on previous project, the Man
MOT online GP service.
There was evidence that this method
(fast, free and anonymous) appealed
to men and that they felt more able
to talk to health professionals about
traditionally-taboo topics in this way
including mental health.
BEAT
STRESS

Conversion rate to chat was almost
half that for the online GP service
Man MOT.
Conversion rates from landing page
to chat were:
• 3.7% for Beat Stress and
• 7% for Man MOT
However…
BEAT
STRESS

Beat Stress was highly successful at
attracting men from two traditionally
very ‘hard-to-reach’ sections of the male
population.
• Nearly half of users of the chat service
(49.8%) were from the three most
deprived deciles of the population.
• Most users were young (under 30)
with the ‘average’ year of birth being
1980
BEAT
STRESS

Chat transcript by the McPin
Foundation analysis identified positive
‘sentiment change’ in over half of chat
users (54%).
BEAT
STRESS

BEAT
STRESS
1. Anonymity matters
Men not only discussed their mental health
but even the more taboo areas including
sexual performance anxiety and depression
related to erectile dysfunction - subjects our
therapist team said they never heard about
in clinic

BEAT
STRESS
1. Anonymity matters
Less anonymity = more dropout.
So if services want to reach men they need
to ask what data they really need.
Will this problem recede with time
(everybody shares these days) or get worse
(Cambridge Analytica)?

BEAT
STRESS
2. Flexibility matters
A mobile-friendly platform is important. The
majority of users (64%) used mobile phones
to access the service.

BEAT
STRESS
3. Language matters
Men are ‘stressed’ but won't ask for ‘help’;
often ‘pissed off’ but never ‘sad’; and while
they may talk about ‘anger’, they may not
about ‘feelings’?
Mind Your Language report (2018).

BEAT
STRESS
4. Chat helps
Talking, even 'talking' is via text chat, helps.
• increased willingness to discuss a topic;
• recognition that services could be helpful;
• recognition that their issue was ‘serious
enough’ to get offline help and,
• improvements in how chatters ‘felt’ 
(calmer, more in control etc)

GETTING BETTER?

Male Mental Health Today

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