#men's mental health month

[thepromiscuousfinger]

[starryqueen-18]

Men's Mental Health Month!!!

Did you guys know that June is also Men's Mental Health Month?, we must spread awareness, and help the males with their struggles!

Fandoms in drawing:

Charles and Henry - Henry Stickmin collection

Jesse - Minecraft Story Mode

Espresso Cookie - Cookie Run Kingdom

Captain Barnacles - Octonauts

King Olly - Paper Mario Origami King

Progress below

[sanders-sides88]

Roman: As a gay man in June, I'm having a great time.

[gigifluidcat]

June is NOT the Month for TERFs!! 💗

[crusaderguy]

Godzilla has committed many crimes, mostly acts of violence and he prefers to call it vigilante justice, however his favorite crime is tax fraud.

A special Anguirus bonus:

[vodrae]

Happy men's mental health month, I love yall my bros, take care

[scifriskyxy]

[leam1983]

Halfway Through Pride Month

Happy Ongoing Pride!

And, also, happy Men's Mental Health Awareness Month, too - but that tends to be rather overshadowed. As a bisexual man who's needed about half a year in therapy to get out of a post-postgrad funk, both causes are equally important to me.

Hug the important men in your life, be they gay, straight, bi, poly, transmen - whatever and however. Hug them. So much is expected of men, so many have a laundry list of the things they'd like the men in their lives to do - but so few understand just how toxic life tends to be for us, as well.

We need to be strong, to be expressive, to be self-confident - but we can't show weakness. We can't let a pacifist's outlook turn us into weaklings, according to some. We have to provide, protect, dominate, survey - and still manage to come out of it whole and hale enough to be emotionally available and vulnerable in just the right measures to be that "sensitive" man so many people idolize.

It's a paradox, obviously. The ideal man has the psychological consistency of oobleck - mushy at the right times, stern at others - both assertive and punchy and always, always gentle. It doesn't make much sense, obviously.

The human mind isn't a Non-Newtonian fluid; it's built through knowledge and conditioning. We're not goo, we're basalt pillars, with layers constantly falling apart and revealing more underneath; until you reach the point where there's not enough mass left for the pillar to sustain its own weight.

Unlike basalt pillars, though, we tend to be able to build ourselves back up before we collapse, with some help.

Help that not all of us receive. Or not in time.

Remember, guys have years of conditioning plastered onto them, cues that make us think that showing weakness is a burden. Even if you find that one guy you want to help, chances are he's going to try and brush you off. Not because he feels the need to look tough, but because it's how we've been taught to show that we care.

For most guys, caring manifests through self-effacing, and tears are an act of presence. So, no tears. The uncried tears fester, turn into not-so-kind words. Into ruined relationships, or maybe even broken lives. Or if you're luckier, the uncried stuff turns into bad habits, unhealthy coping mechanisms, blood pressure pills at an early age, an expanding waistline - the list goes on.

So cut through the bullshit. Find that guy who needs help and let them know they at least have a choice, as far as you're concerned.

From where I'm standing, looking at one of my two partners who's had to undergo therapy to finally bury demons from his past and find the courage to live freely, crying your guts out like you're six years old again and dribbling snot all over your partner's favourite tee-shirt is, in today's society, the single simplest and most effective proof of courage any man can display.

Empathy is strength. Self-care is self-empathy. You do the math.

Let yourselves feel - and remember to help others.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Q: What are the significant contributing factors to why suicide is such a prevalent problem for men?

A: Research is showing us that men who are suicidal don’t consider themselves having a "mental health problem." They have a problem that's out there, external. It will be things like debt, or joblessness, or experiences of abuse, experiences of childhood trauma, or bullying in school.

One in five suicides in the UK, of men, is linked to relationship breakdown, and child custody battles. A huge cohort of men fighting a losing battle against a sexist family court system, and a lot of them turn to suicide. They're not "mentally unwell." They've just lost their child. And in fact, they're responding in a way that actually makes a lot of sense. So, I’d say in general, we need to stop seeing suicide as an irrational decision, based on some sort of mental health problem, and start to understand suicide as a rational solution-based outcome, for many men, who are trying to solve a problem of which they can’t control, and they've got no choices left.

Susie and I described male suicide a bit like, a pot of water on a stove, and it's bubbling up, and it's about to pop off. That man talking is equivalent to taking the lid off that saucepan. You're taking the lid off, you're allowing it to breathe. You're allowing it to settle down. And talking, taking that lid off off, does help. It helps deal with the problem itself, but I don’t know if it solves the problem. We need to work out what is that, the thing that's creating that heat? Is it a man in debt? Is it a man losing his job? Is it a man losing his child? Is it some sort of relationship breakdown?

11% of men who are being abused, will attempt suicide. That is a massive problem. If one of those men goes to a talk group, and tells the people there, "I’m being abused... there’s nowhere for me to go. There are no shelters. I call up the abuse helpline... they think I'ma predator." If that charity listening to that man, doesn’t then go onto advocate for greater support for male victims of abuse; more shelters, more funding, a fundamental change in the way in which police handle abuse. Then that charity is not doing enough, in my opinion. Charities need to "talk" themselves, they're the ones that need to "talk," and actually do something about the problems that men are telling them about.

The vast majority of men who die by suicide do actually talk, and have actually sought help, but the help they got was not adequate, and it failed them, and they still died by suicide. So this meme of "men can talk," as some sort of silver bullet to suicide. It's just not good enough.

It highlights a very important generalised difference in how we look at women's and men’s issues. For women’s, for example, we say, "the problem is out there in society... we need to change society." For men’s issues, we only ever say, "he needs to change himself."

As well, we need to let men speak about what they want to speak about. So often men do talk, and we don't like what they've got to say, and we tell them to "shut up." So then we've got these two co-existing strands, one side is telling men "to talk," and the other is telling men to "shut up." And overall, we can all do better. And we have to do better.

And recognise male suicide is a massive, societal, epidemic problem, that we all need to help solve, and not just throw it at the feet of men. And until we start seeing men in the same way as women, the victim of issues that they are not fully in control of, then I don’t know what we can really do for male suicide.

--

It’s men’s mental health month, and as much as it’s important to raise awareness around #mentalhealth, and the importance of discussing it without stigma, it is also a time to speak about what mental health is not.

And no…’mental health’ is not the best lens through which to view and understand the epidemic of male suicide, which remains the leading cause of death in men below the age of 50.

No doubt in the week before this, and in the weeks to come, #mensmentalhealthmonth will be marked with many well-meaning calls, and kind words, to reduce male suicide.

Many will share numbers to call, a plea to ‘talk’, or offer a listening ear; but what few will speak of, is how most suicidal men don’t even conceptualise the problem they have as a ‘mental heath problem’, at all.

In fact, most of these men are of sound mind, viewing suicide as a rational and solution-based outcome, to ‘solve’ a problem they can no longer bear.

These men will point to debt, or joblessness, some kind of relationship breakdown, experiences of bullying, or abuse, sexual trauma, physical disability, loneliness, child custody breakdown…

And when it comes to such issues, each of which can lead directly to suicide, it is not men who refuse to talk, but society.

We refuse to talk about such issues men face, or even deny their existence entirely.

It’s a strange time to be an advocate fighting male suicide, because so many people claim to care, but when it comes to having the difficult, ugly discussions around the very things that cause male suicide, the room suddenly empties and the kindness evaporates.

The simple fact is, that male suicide has been in the limelight for years now; the campaigns have run, the money has been spent, and the problem is no better.

Something is not working.

Yes.

We are right to ask for “talk”, but not just words from the men needing our help, but “talk” from everybody else too.

So why are men doing this?

Are suicide interventions working?

And have we gotten our view of men’s issues, and male suicide, all wrong?

[ioniczach]

Happy Pride and Men's Mental Health Month!

As a Neuroatypical Bi/Pan guy, I feel a special connection to this month XD

[lizardbytheriver]

June is Men's Health Month. To all the guys out there, please take care of yourself. Remember to eat, drink water, sleep, relax, and get plenty of rest. Please do not neglect your mental health. Suicide is a severe problem among men. Remember people care about you and your health (physical health, mental health, emotional health, etc.). Let's remember to show our guys some love and appreciation this June. Whether they be Cis Men, Trans Men, Gay Men, Bi Men, Pan Men, Omni Men, Straight Men, Ace Men, Aro Men, Intersex Men, etc. Men are pretty amazing and deserving of compassion. Have a great month, boys. And please take care of yourselves!

[aloeverawrites]

Happy men's mental health month guys! ❤️ :)

[somelonelywordmonger]

Toxic masculinity, misogyny, internalized misogyny, transmisogyny, and homophobia go together. Bigotry likes the comfort of various forms of repression, oppression, and hatred. Learning the patterns and style of one can help you identify another. Let toxic masculinity die so that society can flourish. Support platonic love between men and you'll find that both toxic masculinity and homophobia will be easier to overcome. Let go of your aversion or outright hatred of women and transwomen and you'll find that toxic masculinity has been weakened because now women are freed which means that the men can be freed too. Women need to uplift other women, not tear them down. Instead, tear down that internalized misogyny. Let platonic love fill the void and heal the wounds left by these systems designed to oppress and destroy. And if, by consenting individuals, the platonic love invites another form of attraction, then so be it. Society and all of us can benefit from the normalization of boys and men hugging each other, playing nonviolent games together, wearing colors or things deemed feminine, and everything in between that toxic masculinity has made out to be bad. Boys and men can have feelings other than anger. Trans women are real women. And women shouldn't work against other women through the means of tearing each other apart because that gives all the other systems of bigotry and hatred a foothold. It is vital that we support and uplift one another, no matter our gender (or lack thereof), sexuality, race, ability, and all other features that make us human. For this Pride Month and Men's Mental Health Awareness Month, I invite you to sit with yourself and think on where these deeply ingrained systems of hate have affected you. It is time to unlearn them and fight back against them. Do this not just for society, but for yourself. The roots of these forms of oppression and repression run deep. But if we all make an effort to change and do better, not only can we begin to heal, but our future children will not have to go through the same battles as we will have showed them a better way.

Now this post is also more American centric as I only know the experience of living in America, but I know other societies experience different forms of these systems and I would hope that my thoughts can help those outside of America, though I have my doubts as I am limited.

[ftlolbyexe]

upd: i have just learned that along with pride month, it's also men's mental health month in some places (in my country that's in november) so happy men's mental health month

[sonicbulletinhub]

Redefining Masculinity: The Evolution of Men’s Mental Health Month

Introduction

Men’s Mental Health Month stands as a crucial initiative, shedding light on the often overlooked subject of men’s mental well-being. In a world where stereotypes and stigmas surround the concept of masculinity, addressing mental health concerns among men becomes paramount. This article delves into the history, key issues, and strategies to promote mental well-being during Men’s Mental Health Month.

History of Men’s Mental Health MonthThe roots of Men’s Mental Health Month trace back to the increasing recognition of the unique challenges men face in terms of mental health. Originally established to address the rising rates of depression and suicide among men, the month has evolved to encompass a broader spectrum of mental health issues.

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