Suicide can happen to anyone regardless of age, gender, and culture. Though reports said that suicide contemplation is more prevalent in females, the completed suicide rates are vastly higher in males. In Britain and Australia, 75% of suicides are committed by males, and in the US, suicide is the 7th leading cause of death in males.
Over the last few years, more and more popular celebrities chose to end their lives by committing suicide. Upon taking a closer look, it’s been found that this could happen because the number of males who seek out help in their darkest moments is less compared to females. Women are more open with their emotions and problems while men tend to close their doors for emotional release.
An open discussion about male suicide might be the first step to looking at this reality. Let’s begin by going deeper into the causes linked to male suicide. The following are some of them.
Drug Use
In the past, the use of prohibited drugs is often seen in young men who want to satisfy their curiosity for this substance and also out of peer pressure. But today, drugs are used to drown oneself of their problems. Because drugs can give them a short-time high, males falsely believe it will solve things. They tend to forget that doing so is only taking their focus out of the problem. The problem doesn’t go. As a matter of fact, it gets worse as the drug starts to impair their good judgment.
All of us go through the ups and downs of life. Others survived with flying colors while others yield to the emotional pull that leads them to the path of oblivion.
Isolation
Living alone is inevitable, especially when one is a widow and the children have their own homes and families. Males who are socially isolated, tend to get lonely. Loneliness can be a mental disease that when left untreated, can make a man feel his life is without meaning.
Hermits thrive in being alone because they don’t feel any loneliness at all. If all single men have this kind of disposition, living alone would never feel lonely again.
Failed relationships
Some men have underlying problems that can ultimately hurt their relationships, whether personal, social or at work.
Most often, men failed in romantic relationships because of their narcissistic nature. They don’t take responsibility and blame women for all their problems.
There are also those who put women on the pedestal. When the woman says, let me go, it crashes their world and makes them more likely to succumb to depression.
Men who aren’t emotionally strong tend to find problems in their work and keep on jumping from one work to another. All this usually stem from the kind of environment these men grew up with.
Divorce
Divorce could be the last resort for couples who seek to find peace of mind apart from each other. This could represent liberation, but still, it breaks your heart to say goodbye to the person you once vowed to live your life with for better or for worse.
Generally, men struggle more than women during a divorce because they lose more than their wives do. Women do much better when it comes to life and emotional management, and they have better relationship skills compared to men. Thus, divorce hurts men more than it hurts women.
History of Abuse
Childhood sexual and physical abuse are linked to subsequent psychological and social dysfunctions. Men who experienced abuse in their childhood find it difficult to relate to others. They’re full of guilt, shame, anger, and anxiety. As a result, they find it hard to sustain good relationships and trust people.
Imprisonment
Suicides committed in prison cells occurs due to a variety of reasons. They include medical and mental health issues, guilt, family relationship problems, lack of purposeful activity, environmental conditions, and stress.
Bullying
The rate of suicide due to bullying is alarming. Those who are more prone to this are the youth who often lack a solid family support. Or even when they do, the effects of bullying is just too great for their fragile minds to handle.
Unemployment
Unemployed males may felt worthless for not being able to fulfill their duties, especially when they have a family to support and the wife is the one shouldering all their financial needs. Their hurting ego is the main culprit for losing their hope.
Loss of a Loved One
Some men fall in love so deeply that they see their woman as their sole happiness as well as the breathe of their lives. This could sometimes lead to an attachment where they can lose their sense of self. And when the woman’s life is taken due to a trauma or a disease, the man feels it as his own death toll. He will then choose to end his life rather than face the world alone.
Mental Illness
A mental illness, specifically depression, is often the cause of most suicide. Health experts even said that some compounds found in antidepressants are likely to make the patient feel detached to himself causing an inner disconnection.
This might be the reason why some celebrities chose to take their own lives despite their promising careers and being surrounded by loving and supportive people. We don’t know how intense this feeling of disconnection might seem, but it must surely be too hard to bear.
Debilitating Disease
When faced with terminal illnesses and debilitating health conditions, some men refuse to fight until the end by ending their lives to shorten their physical suffering.
Getting Help
Suicide is terrifying, especially for families who are left behind and still struggling to answer the many questions and putting back the pieces together.
The above causes of suicide might be varied and subjective, but they all have something in common, that is, failing to ask for help.
Men should be more open to share their problems and seek help. They should start thinking outside of the box and be strong enough to admit that they have emotional weaknesses too.
Seeking help is never as hard as it was decades ago. Men can ask for help from different sources such as family doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, voluntary organizations, mental health centers, and other agencies that extend help relating to mental health conditions.
If you know someone who shows some symptoms of depression, try to convince them to ask for help. Or, if you yourself, is going through some difficulties in life, seek out the company of your family or friends and spend time with them.
You are a social being who need to have social connections. Don’t be fooled into believing that because you’re living alone, no one could be there for you. Reach out to others. Join organizations and seek ways where you can give your contribution to your community. Be a pro-life and do activities that add value to your life and the lives of others.
