The Link Between Work and Depression in Men

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Apr 21, 2022

✨POV✨: Heard of 'throw yourself into work and it'll get easier'? You're tempted to take this advice to forget about everything that's bothering you. To displace the emotions you're feeling with a distraction, the kind that is considered productive.

Working over hours is truly every second person's story these days. The weekend is for exertion, striving for perfection, and finally, becoming superhuman.

With the stress of the pandemic slowing down our lives and shifting work to home, there are a lot of missed opportunities to make up for (like the fall of the economy or unidimensional learning through screens). Or at least, that's what the general approach has become. We and our work are trying to make up for lost time by working extra hours and extra hard.

But did you know, that overworking or throwing ourselves into work as a way of escaping our emotions is one of the many clinical depression symptoms? Click here to know more about what our working style says about our depression.

Depression in Men: The Origin Story ⚛️

From an evolutionary standpoint, men have been wired to be breadwinners, to ensure the physical survival of their community. This hardwired tendency led to the creation of power dynamics and patriarchy.

This cultural system constrains every human being in some way or the other, outlining the socially acceptable ways of being. For men, suppressing their vulnerability was the major ask.

These hardwired notions and worldviews are still present today (and slowly being undone). Mental illnesses in men are not as understood because the common symptoms have overlaps with weakness. Even today, there is more undiagnosed and untreated depression in men than women. Why?

Mental health symptoms are taken seriously only when they become physical symptoms (like difficulty sleeping, tightness in the chest, digestive issues, and drastic weight changes) of severe depression, aka major depressive disorder, that can no longer be shrugged off as weakness.

And out of this lack of freedom to express vulnerability and the essence of what makes us human, men look to escapist behaviors to dull their pain. This can often also lead to emotional numbness, which is also a symptom of depression. Click here to read more.

Over-Working as a Coping Mechanism 💻

Under the garb of a mental health treatment, men throw themselves in their work, prioritizing it over building emotional awareness because it is validated by society. To be a hardworker, putting in more work than expected is never looked down upon or extrapolated to dealing with mental health issues (until now).

That's what it is - an escape from harder internal realities. To not have to accept that we are struggling and need help. But it's productive right - men earn, learn, grow and provide. Just not about or for themselves. Any distraction, if used to ignore and suppress discomfort, will become a roadblock to personal development.

The alternative to overworking is getting the right help for the specific struggle - to treat depression with talk therapy or medication. Or perhaps even a mini-therapy, which helps us cope with difficult thoughts and emotions right when we're overwhelmed, so that we don't pick up distractions as coping mechanisms.

Last Word on Mental Health 🤍

Work has been romanticized and for all the right reasons, at least most of the time. When it isn't for the right reasons is when it takes up a higher pedestal in our lives than our own mental wellbeing.

There's literally no two ways about it - health comes first. And to improve our health, we need to know ourselves better. We don't need to escape ourselves or our emotions. Imagine them like signposts that lead us to our destination. And on that journey, it's okay to ask for directions or a helping hand or a supportive shoulder when we're lost.

Note on Mental Disorders 🚩

If you have depressive symptoms or thoughts of self-harm, please use the NIHM (National Institute of Mental Health) national suicide prevention lifeline or contact a mental health professional to seek treatment options for treating depression.