Into the Mainstream (DH, 2002)
intended to encourage policy-makers and service-planners in the field of mental
health to become more sensitive to the needs of women. The consequence has been
the development of a variety of specific local and national workstreams which
have sought ultimately to improve service delivery for women with mental health
problems.
Men's mental health needs have not, to date, been paid the same attention. It
could be argued that the data supports a concentration of activity on mental
ill health in women, at least in the first instance, since neurotic disorders
in particular (anxiety, depression, phobia and obsessive compulsive disorder)
are much more commonly diagnosed in women than men (MHF, 2006). Without
diminishing the importance of women's mental health however, it is clear that
the bigger picture is rather more complicated than it first seems.
- 75% of people who kill themselves are men.
- 73% of adults who go missing from home are men.
- 90% of rough sleepers are men.
- One man in eight is dependent on alcohol (men are three times more likely to become alcohol dependent).
- 78% of drug-related deaths occur in men (men are more than twice as likely to use Class A drugs).
- Men make up 94% of the prison population - and 72% of male prisoners suffer from two or more mental disorders (compared with 5% of men in the general population).
- 46% of male psychiatric inpatients (compared with 29% of female patients) are detained and treated compulsorily .
- Almost every personality disorder, including antisocial personality disorder, is more likely to be diagnosed in men.
- 84% of children excluded from school are boys.
- Boys are five times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls.
- Young men are significantly more likely than young women to emerge from the education system with lower levels of qualification.
- Men have measurably lower access to the social support of friends, relatives and community.
This list demonstrates that some indicators of poor mental health are
more strongly associated with men than women and some indicators of good mental
health are less so. The list also suggests that some measures of emotional and
psychological distress that are more common in men do not fall comfortably
within the conventional diagnostic framework.
Developing
Effective Practice in Men's Mental Health
Untold Problems: a review of
the essential issues in the mental health of men
and boys was published in February 2010. The review was commissioned by the
National Mental Health Development Unit (NMHDU) from the Men's Health Forum. Untold
Problems is the first document to consider mental health, and mental health
services, specifically from the male perspective.
In commissioning the review
NMHDU acknowledged that, historically, the specific needs of men have been
addressed rather less well than the specific needs of women. The development of
services that take particular account of women's needs has been due in large
part to the establishment, in 2003, of a dedicated national strategy for
women's mental health. There has also been increasing professional awareness of
the importance of gender as a determinant of women's mental health status.
There has been no parallel process so far in respect of the needs of men.
The publication of Untold
Problems has already generated considerable interest and debate. At the end
of 2009, NMHDU decided to re-commission the Men's Health Forum, this time in
partnership with Mind, to write a second document building on the learning from
the first, and taking advantage of the developing interest in the issue of
men's mental health. The second document which will be a "good practice guide
"will be published in the early autumn of 2010, and will make recommendations
for mental health practice in working with men and boys
