Relationship Distress May Cause Mental Health Challenges
Highlights:
- Mental illness - although perceives no gender bias, men may be at increased risk of it
- Marital separation is found to increase the risk of male suicide by almost four times
- A new study also highlights the risk of other mental illnesses like depression, and anxiety post-break-ups in men
Men may have an increased risk of mental illness when confronted with relationship break downs, as per a study "Masculinity and mental illness in and after men's intimate partner relationships" at the University of British Columbia (UBC), published in the journal Social Science and Medicine - Qualitative Research in Health.
Relationship and Mental Health
The new study states that relationship transitions in men increase the risk of mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, and suicide.
"Most men experienced the onset or worsening of mental illness symptoms during a distressed relationship or following the breakdown of a relationship," says the study's lead author Dr. John Oliffe, a Canada Research Chair and UBC professor of nursing whose work focuses on men's mental health.
Risk of Mental Illness
The study at UBC's Men's Health Research Program interrogated 47 men regarding their breakdown experiences with an intimate partner relationship.‘Risk of mental health challenges is heightened among men when confronted with distressed relationships, separation, and divorce.’
It was noted that the risk of male suicide almost quadruples after marital separation. One of the reasons for increased risk among men is due to the downplay issues proclaimed by men, which leads to even further damages to the relationship.
Break the Stereotypes
"Stereotyped masculinity plays a role in how men react to a broken relationship. For example, men's uncertainty for how to articulate and problem-solve in the relationship context resulted in many men isolating rather than reaching out for help. Most men in the study were battling with transitions in the partnership-like bereavement, parenting or infidelity-and their primary goal was to avoid conflict," says Dr.Oliffe, who also leads UBC's Reducing Male Suicide research excellence cluster.It was also found that distressed men used substances and alcohol? to cope with their breakup feelings like anger, sadness, regret, guilt, and shame. Moreover, the uncertainty of life, loss of social connections, public health restrictions, and financial challenges complicate the distress even more.
Foster Positive Strength
However, on a positive note, the study also revealed the engagement of men in a variety of resources after the relationship breakdown for further addressing the mental health needs."Help-seeking efforts among these men were wide-ranging and included individual or solitary efforts like exercise, reading and self-care while other men tapped existing networks or extended their efforts to connect with support groups, or attended therapy," says Gabriela Montaner, the project lead and co-author on the article.
The study thereby states that men must devote substantial effort to move on from the break-up rather than tending to wait until crisis for seeking help.
The findings thereby lay forth important contexts to construct better relationships among men.
Source: Medindia
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Karishma Abhishek. (2022, February 06). Relationship Distress May Cause Mental Health Challenges. Medindia. Retrieved on Apr 29, 2024 from https://www.medindia.net/news/healthinfocus/relationship-distress-may-cause-mental-health-challenges-205527-1.htm.
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Karishma Abhishek. "Relationship Distress May Cause Mental Health Challenges". Medindia. Apr 29, 2024. <https://www.medindia.net/news/healthinfocus/relationship-distress-may-cause-mental-health-challenges-205527-1.htm>.
Chicago
Karishma Abhishek. "Relationship Distress May Cause Mental Health Challenges". Medindia. https://www.medindia.net/news/healthinfocus/relationship-distress-may-cause-mental-health-challenges-205527-1.htm. (accessed Apr 29, 2024).
Harvard
Karishma Abhishek. 2022. Relationship Distress May Cause Mental Health Challenges. Medindia, viewed Apr 29, 2024, https://www.medindia.net/news/healthinfocus/relationship-distress-may-cause-mental-health-challenges-205527-1.htm.