That's what I meant the other day

Everyone has heard about mental health these days and there is overt kindness but covert awkwardness whenever someone actually mentions it. Also people to a large extent haven't educated themselves on how to actually help if someone reaches out to them (emotional validation, emotional containment, all that good stuff which can be taught in a very few hours). There's also the inevitable backlash, not just the "real men don't have emotions" bulls**t but also "yeah everyone's got mental health these days great excuse for not doing anything". It's really toxic and suicide remains the biggest killer of men under fifty but there's a massive gap when people aren't actually suicidal but are still really, really struggling. Services often don't get involved until someone reaches a crisis point which might well have been avoidable if they'd got some help when they asked for it. And some people never reach crisis point they just have an avoidably miserable time. As a society we just need to get better at All This.

Posted By: Old Man, Aug 23, 11:06:18