Patriarchy: The Death of a Man’s Mental Health

New Delhi (India), November 17: Good Karma, now open at Park Street, is a safe space for healing, growing and evolving. Good Karma aims at eliminating stigma, raising awareness and the prevention of various Mental Health issues. “The other reason for the lack of reports may be due to an awareness or literacy gap about mental health issues. Some studies showed that men tend to be a little less informed than women when it comes to mental wellness.”

“Act like a man!”,”Stop crying like a girl!”,”Boys will be boys!”. Growing up, everyone has heard these phrases, irrespective of gender, age and caste. One should be glad that patriarchy hates everyone equally! On a serious note though these so-called ideal macho type of stereotypical male figures who don’t have feelings, wait no, it’s who don’t talk about their feelings need to be helped. Yes, they need help. Feelings should not be belittled, made fun of or swept under the proverbial rug! Feelings need to be expressed in words and action!

Love needs to be shown, admiration needs to be voiced. We also need to address the not-so-nice feelings of hate, and greed and jealousy.  The root cause of these last three can be found in the inability to express their opinions freely. Boys just like girls need to be equal in expression and social emotional learning.  Now even there is a mindfulness assess if you can be a top tier professional in the corporate settings here in India! This is because it indicates longevity, teamwork and leadership qualities.  Appropriate vulnerability is a sought after quality in men now a days.  However the societal norms and misconceptions can lead to no change which is happening all over India still to date from the most educated to the least. For example imagine a man reached out to their colleague, manager, or peer for help and shared their problems.  Most of the times they might be dismissed or not taken seriously.  There are ideas in society that it’s ‘frowned upon’ for men to show any vulnerability. Meanwhile, if it was a woman then it would be much more accepted.  This is leading to what we call as an empathy gap between genders.