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Men’s Help-Seeking for Distress: Navigating Varied Pathways and Practices

There is a widely accepted dominant narrative surrounding men’s mental health help-seeking, that men are less likely to pursue formal mental health support on account of hegemonic masculine ideals that limit emotional expression and vulnerability. Across the literature, little attention has been giv...

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Autor principal: Vickery, Alex
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8661038/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34901258
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.724843
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author Vickery, Alex
author_facet Vickery, Alex
author_sort Vickery, Alex
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description There is a widely accepted dominant narrative surrounding men’s mental health help-seeking, that men are less likely to pursue formal mental health support on account of hegemonic masculine ideals that limit emotional expression and vulnerability. Across the literature, little attention has been given to the varied ways in which men can and will seek out help when experiencing mental health troubles. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of men’s experiences of distress, specifically focused on their help-seeking and everyday coping and management of distress. Between 2016 and 2017, 38 individual interviews were carried out in South Wales, United Kingdom, with men of a range of ages (21–74 years of age) and social backgrounds. Analysis identifies nuanced help-seeking practices and pathways, emphasizing ways in which men can and will engage with mental health support. Some men struggled with articulating personal issues in mental health terms, and some portrayed ambivalence to help-seeking, yet at the same time reconstructed help-seeking to positively align with masculine values. The paper further highlights the significant influence of familial and friendship networks in the help-seeking process as well as the value of therapy for men experiencing mental health difficulties, challenging the idea that masculinity inhibits the disclosure of emotional problems. Awareness of the diversity of ways in which men can actively engage with their mental health is needed so that mental health support interventions and practitioners can best reach out to men experiencing distress and provide gender-sensitive support suitable to a range of different men.
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spelling pubmed-86610382021-12-11 Men’s Help-Seeking for Distress: Navigating Varied Pathways and Practices Vickery, Alex Front Sociol Sociology There is a widely accepted dominant narrative surrounding men’s mental health help-seeking, that men are less likely to pursue formal mental health support on account of hegemonic masculine ideals that limit emotional expression and vulnerability. Across the literature, little attention has been given to the varied ways in which men can and will seek out help when experiencing mental health troubles. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of men’s experiences of distress, specifically focused on their help-seeking and everyday coping and management of distress. Between 2016 and 2017, 38 individual interviews were carried out in South Wales, United Kingdom, with men of a range of ages (21–74 years of age) and social backgrounds. Analysis identifies nuanced help-seeking practices and pathways, emphasizing ways in which men can and will engage with mental health support. Some men struggled with articulating personal issues in mental health terms, and some portrayed ambivalence to help-seeking, yet at the same time reconstructed help-seeking to positively align with masculine values. The paper further highlights the significant influence of familial and friendship networks in the help-seeking process as well as the value of therapy for men experiencing mental health difficulties, challenging the idea that masculinity inhibits the disclosure of emotional problems. Awareness of the diversity of ways in which men can actively engage with their mental health is needed so that mental health support interventions and practitioners can best reach out to men experiencing distress and provide gender-sensitive support suitable to a range of different men. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-11-26 /pmc/articles/PMC8661038/ /pubmed/34901258 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.724843 Text en Copyright © 2021 Vickery. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Sociology
Vickery, Alex
Men’s Help-Seeking for Distress: Navigating Varied Pathways and Practices
title Men’s Help-Seeking for Distress: Navigating Varied Pathways and Practices
title_full Men’s Help-Seeking for Distress: Navigating Varied Pathways and Practices
title_fullStr Men’s Help-Seeking for Distress: Navigating Varied Pathways and Practices
title_full_unstemmed Men’s Help-Seeking for Distress: Navigating Varied Pathways and Practices
title_short Men’s Help-Seeking for Distress: Navigating Varied Pathways and Practices
title_sort men’s help-seeking for distress: navigating varied pathways and practices
topic Sociology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8661038/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34901258
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.724843
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