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LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – According to the experts, mental illness is a public health crisis here in the United States. However, men don’t usually talk about their mental health struggles, leading to an increased rate of male suicides.
Here in Michigan, suicide rates are much higher for men than for women. In 2020, 1,389 people died by suicide — men accounted for 1,099 of suicide deaths in the same year.
Statistics from Mental Health America show men commit more than 80% of suicides.
Experts agree that conversations about men’s mental health help remove the stigma and save lives.
“I realized that I was so alone – or I felt so alone…” Mental health author and speaker, Jason Wood, uses his own experience with mental illness to help other men feel comfortable talking about their struggles.
“I was going through my battle because there weren’t a lot of other men out there talking about their experience with an eating disorder in particular.”
Wood said eating disorders are the second deadliest mental illness. His eating disorder, unfortunately, led to other issues. “I began to withdraw from social situations.” Something Wood said he wasn’t talking about.
“There was also my anxiety that was keeping me from social situations as well. So, that was a very isolating factor. Mentally, I was just really, really low on myself. I had a low self-worth.”
Like Wood, men’s mental health advocate Anson Whitmer said mental health struggles haunted two of his family members. That experience led Whitmer to create an app for men. It’s called Mental.
“I lost both my uncle and my cousin on different sides of the family to suicide. And I knew that at least one of them tried to reach out for help and didn’t resonate with any of the solutions out there,” said Whitmer.
He said the app helps men beat stress, build discipline, and find purpose. Whitmer said most mental health support focuses on women and children. “No one really is connecting with men.”
Whitmer said “one report says there’s 10 to 20,000 mental health apps out there and not a single one is built for men.” He said while men make up 80% of suicides, “if we don’t figure out a way to get through to men we will never bring down the suicide crisis.”
According to Mental Health America, more people are reporting mental health concerns but only 28% were able to find care.
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