{"id":143883,"date":"2020-10-24T08:24:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-24T08:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=143883"},"modified":"2020-10-24T08:45:19","modified_gmt":"2020-10-24T08:45:19","slug":"reflecting-on-the-stigma-around-men-on-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=143883","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on the stigma around men with mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Iylia Marsya Iskandar<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GOMBAK, 24 October 2020: Despite the increase in nationwide accessibility to mental health professionals, counselors and psychiatrists in Malaysia are certain that men still opt to not seek for help and advice even when they display symptoms of mental health problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the common view shared by panelists in a discussion on \u0153Gagah atau Rebah:<\/em> Lelaki dan Kesihatan Mental\u009d<\/em> which was conducted live yesterday (23 October).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panelists were Mr. Hanafi Mohd Yunos, Counselor, from the Malaysian Department of Social Welfare, along with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nora Mat Zin, a senior lecturer and psychiatrist from IIUM Kuantan Campus, and Mr. Izudin Ghazali, senior counsellor of Malaysian Prison Department (Kajang Prison).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussion centred\nmainly on three areas surrounding mental health problems; the reason behind the\nreluctance for professional help, domestic violence and aggressiveness among\nmen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153The issue surrounding\nmen and mental health is a silent topic and in literatures, its called a silent\nepidemic where the problem is constant but it is not talked widely,\u009d shared Dr.\nNora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: \u0153The ratio of\nwomen to men that walked into my clinic to seek for professional help is 10:2\nand this is because women has more health-seeking tendencies due to many live\nevents such as pregnancy, menstruation and giving birth.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Dr. Nora, there are three reasons for mens reluctance to seek for help. Firstly, men are inclined to the ideal masculinity where men refuse to show a hint of pain and suffering. Hence, men refuse to seek for help especially with problems regarding mental health. This was also supported and proven in theories and literatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, men conformed\nto their socially prescribed roles that is men are expected to be strong,\nresilient and are able to solve problems by themselves. As these behaviour\nprolonged, health-seeking tendencies among men are low. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, when all of these\nare combined, men are prone to escaping behaviour which means that they look\nfor other places to relieve their problems including smoking, substance abuse\nor gaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Escaping behaviour can\nlead to an addiction. For example, in gaming there is a reward system that will\narouse pleasure. As this continues, it will be a continuous cycle called\naddiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working in a men-centric environment, Mr. Izudin displayed his agreement on Dr. Noras points adding that, like women, men have feelings as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quoting Dr. Nora, \u0153Men and women have feelings. They have the same basic and emotional needs but they display their feelings differently.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is uncommon for men to openly tell people \u0153Im sad\u009d or \u0153Im depressed\u009d. Instead, they may deflect and say \u0153I have some problems at work.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mr. Hanafi,\ndue to the social stigma surrounding men of their strength and resilience, men\nsometimes do not realise that they became a victim of violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153Ever since the movement control order (MCO) took place, there was not only a rise in domestic abuse cases among women but men as well and this has been increasing in the past few years,” Mr. Hanafi pointed out, quoting references from Department of Statistics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u0153Even though\nthere is a constant rise in domestic abuse cases towards men, men still opt to\nrefuse counselling services or seek help on household matters as they believe\nthey should solve problems by themselves as the head and leader of the family.\u009d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, gender is not the only reason contributing to this issue but the environment plays an important factor as well, Mr. Izudin shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153Usually, we teach little boys not to cry even when they fall from a bike but we teach little girls that it is okay to cry, that’s part of the reason for this issue,\u009d Mr. Izudin further said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153The environment, past\nexperiences and how they are being raised in is a vital factor. If they often watched\nor being displayed violence, it is without doubt that they will be prone to\naggressiveness to solve problems and display emotions instead of talking and\nventing,\u009d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In regards to\naggressiveness, Dr. Nora said that the percentage of suicidal men are more\nsignificant as compared to women but women display a higher percentage of\nsuicidal behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, suicide rates are higher in men as they often use more aggressive methods with higher determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: \u0153Their determination\nis high because they suppressed their small sadness for an extensive period\nuntil they hear a voice that brings them closer to suicide.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153With men who are\nsuffering with mental health problems, we have to look for the early symptoms.\nSince they wont outright tell people their feelings, these symptoms are often\nphysical such as constant complains that they are in pain,\u009d Dr. Nora shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those with families or friends who are suffering from mental health problems can contact the Malaysian Department of Social Welfare through the Talian Nur Hotline 15999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This discussion is the 15th<\/sup> installation of the Talkathon Series in conjunction with IIUM Global Mental Health Month Programme (IIUM GMHMP) 2020 held in October annually by the Counselling and Career Services Centre (CCSC), IIUM. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sharing session was live on Google Meet and Facebook Live with over 90 participants from among students and lecturers. Those who are interested in other mental health programmes can browse through their Instagram account at @gmhmp2020<\/a>***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Iylia Marsya Iskandar GOMBAK, 24 October 2020: Despite the increase in nationwide accessibility to mental health professionals, counselors and psychiatrists in Malaysia are certain… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":143885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8,3],"tags":[],"nelio_content":{"isAutoShareEnabled":true,"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"followers":[12,134],"suggestedReferences":[],"efiUrl":"","efiAlt":"","highlights":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG-20201023-WA0009.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143883"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=143883"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143901,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143883\/revisions\/143901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/143885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=143883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=143883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=143883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}