Articles and Speeches

Adam Afriyie, MP for Windsor, is urging men to Get it off your chest in support of the leading mental health charity Mind’s new campaign on men’s mental health. The campaign aims to get men to recognise the importance of talking about their problems and seek help when times get tough, particularly during the recession. 

Mind’s new YouGov survey found that almost 40% of men are worried or low at the moment and the top 3 issues playing on their minds are job security, work and money. One in seven men will develop depression within six months of losing their jobs (1) and unemployment also increases the risk of suicide with research showing that two-thirds of men under 35years were out of work when they took their own life (2).

Even though men and women experience mental health problems in roughly equal measures men are far less likely to discuss their feelings and seek the help they need. Only 31% of men would talk to their family about feeling low compared to nearly half of women and only 14% of men (35-44yrs) would see a GP if they felt low compared to 37% of women. The consequences of suffering in silence can be fatal - 75% of all suicides are by men (3). 

Mind’s Get it off your chest campaign is calling for a first strategy on men's mental health, to match the existing women's mental health strategy. Supporters with personal experience include Lord Melvyn Bragg, Alastair Campbell, Stephen Fry, actor Joe McGann and Heart FM DJ Matt Wilkinson.

Mind’s Chief Executive Paul Farmer said: “The problem is that too many men wrongly believe that admitting mental distress makes them weak and this kind of self stigma can cost lives. When men do look for help, they can be put off by health premises that are geared more towards women. Men told us that GP surgeries offering women’s magazines can feel like a hairdressers and make them feel uncomfortable. Treatments could be more ‘male friendly’ too. It is a major health inequality that a mental health strategy exists for women but not men.”  

(1) Kivimaki M. et al. (2007), ‘Organisational downsizing and increased use of psychotropic drugs among employees who remain in employment’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 61: 154–8

(2) Association of Public Health Observatories (2007) Mental health: indications of public health in the English regions

(3) Office for National Statistics (2009), Suicides 

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 Notes to editors

·         Mind is the leading mental health charity in England and Wales. We work to create a better life for everyone with experience of mental distress. www.mind.org.uk

·         For more information, interviews or case studies please contact the Mind media team on T: 020 8522 1743 M: 07850 788514 E: media@mind.org.uk ISDN line available: 020 8221 0817

·         Please note that Mind is not an acronym and should be set in title case.

·         All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2055 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 27 -29 January 2009. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).