Historical Context

The History of Men's Mental Health 

History in The United States 

Throughout history leading up to the 20th century we have seen men struggling with mental health. Men find different coping skills such as alcohol which have lead to many suicides over the years. This is a consistent theme throughout men's mental health that goes back as far as the 1950s. Alcohol seems to be a trend for men to show their masculinity. Even in the different types of drinks, for example drinks that are more masculine are beer, scotch, and bourbon. Drinks that are considered more feminine are martinis, wine, and cocktails. Alcohol is an escape for men to hide behind their mental struggle. 

Help-seeking for psychological disorders seems to be an area of challenging men's masculinity. History shows when men do seek help from a medical practitioner they often underline mens emotional cause by assuming that men are just showing psychosomatic symptoms leading to undiagnosed depression and anxiety disorders. For women during this time it was easier for doctors to tell what mental health struggles they were suffering from whether it be anxiety, depression, or having a low drive. Somatic symptoms are more focused on the physical pain weakness, or shortness of breath basically focusing on anything but the brain and mental health aspect. Men have gained a reluctance of speaking up about their mental struggles, strengthening men's silence. 

Masculinity traits are socially and culturally constructed throughout society. There are many different perspectives and types of masculinity. For example, toxic masculinity is a big part of today's society. A certain perfection persists in shaping the notion of masculinity. An image of men and masculinity in society shows a stoic male. A stoic male is someone who does not show pain, hardship, and emotion. This is the dominant form of masculinity all over the world. Hegemonic masculinity is something that adapts within different societies but mostly is used throughout historical times. What we see throughout history and society today is the constant image of a stoic male making an influence on cultural norms and creating expectations for this form of masculinity. These expectations of masculinity are traits like emotional restraint, physical strength, competitiveness. During the American revolution we see this hegemonic masculinity throughout the war. All the expectations of this growth in masculinity start from our own history. 

The Georgian Period: History in England 

The Georgian period started in 1714 and opened a widespread argument involving physicians. Physicians in this time period started to question the nervous system and how it worked. Our nervous systems play a major role in anxiety and depression. They wanted to improve their statistics and information around this specific subject. Physicians started to test out their theories and come up with answers. They found that the individuals apart from different cultures and well to do classes were considered to have more of a refined nervous system. After the discovery of the nervous system anxiety was looked at as an indicator of good breeding. But not every part of the world looked at masculinity the same, it was different in cultures, race, family upbringings, and societies. The Georgian period and the physicians showed a part of the world that men's emotions were not very serious, making men silent and being more reflective within themselves including their emotions. 

The Victorian period started around 1837. Scholars during this time started to show a huge social and cultural change between gender. The ideas would show what it meant to be a woman or a man. Historians today have begun looking at this time period trying to explore the ways in which these changes have affected the stigma and emotional aspect of men’s mental health. During the same time Britain became the foremost industrial nation globally. Britain gained dominance on the world gaining power and control that had an even bigger impact on men in the industry to live up to this expectation. The intellectual movement and the enlightenment during this time had values that were increasing. Women played a big role in the enlightenment, trying to gain equal rights. However industrialization itself reinforced gender roles making sure that it was strictly men and not women in this kind of business. It was clear that women were strictly in the kitchen while the men would be working. This stereotype of men and women started in 1854. Two men Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer added on to this stereotype and emphasized the core differences between men and women. They stated women were thought to be biologically inferior to men. Darwin and Spencer all dated this back to the reproductive system and followed it into religion relating it back to the Bible. Men were thought to be more prone to think rationally and make better decisions. The Catholic religion stood by making men respectable and good father figures. This standard in the Catholic religion left no room for emotional self expression.  During the same time period a research on sexology investigated different sexual behaviors making states of normal and unnormal sexualities. Perception on homosexuality as deviant behavior led to concerns amongst men regarding homo-social affection and potential link to effeminacy. Britain's school systems promoted morality, stoicism, and a concept called the stiff upper lip towards young men.