Again, for most of civilization, young men were the ones responsible for protecting society. By the time they were adults, they needed to be battle-hardened and physically strong — the survival of the community often depended on it. As a result, brutal, physical violence among men (through organized sport) was celebrated (and still is today, although this is beginning to change). And men who weren’t able to make the cut were shamed for their physical weakness, for their emotional displays and vulnerable demands for affection. Men were meant to be ruthlessly competitive, and emotionlessly self-contained.
And this was the hidden cost for their physical, and later political dominance, in human society — as men, we are taught from a young age to hide from our emotions rather than to engage them.8
Well, this may not surprise you, but repressing emotions fucks people up. And shaming people for weakness and vulnerability can result in all sorts of mental health problems, not to mention encourage them to lash out in anti-social ways (i.e., shoot up a school, or ram a car into a crowd of people, sign up to be a militant in some crazy religious organization — sound familiar?).
Men commit suicide at a rate five times that of women while teenage boys commit suicide nine times more often than girls.9 They are also diagnosed with depression and ADHD at a rate of 4-to-1 to girls the same age.10 Men make up 2⁄3 of the homeless population,11 are more than twice as likely to become alcoholics and are approximately three times more likely to become drug addicts.12 It’s widely documented that men are far less likely to ask for professional help, medical or otherwise, even when experiencing significant health problems or depression.13
Men are the victims of the majority of violent crime, but also far less likely to report it for fear of appearing weak. One survey found that 40% of the victims of domestic violence are men, yet they were far less likely to report the violence and far less likely to be taken seriously by police.14 Men take on more dangerous jobs and are less likely to report any injury suffered at work. Men work far longer hours, take fewer vacations and sick days, and suffer worse symptoms of chronic stress and fatigue. Men even die on the job at a startling rate. In short, most men treat themselves as nothing more than a walking paycheck.15
Tag: ADHD
Executive Disfunction
My ADHD mind is constantly spitting out information and reminders. Don’t forget to call Jack because you have to find out if the birthday party is happening. If it’s not, you should read that Oliver Sacks book you’ve been wanting to dive into and if you’re going to do that, you should get some snacks, maybe some tea, but not all carb-y because you need to work out more and. . . .
On and on my mind churns out things like that. When that happens I bust out my notebook and on a page I’ll write: Call Jack, Oliver Sacks book, workout tomorrow, get some snacks.
The ADHD voice cuts out because I no longer need a reminder. My ADHD is the kid in the backseat on a road trip: “Are we there yet?! Can we get there?! How long?!” Once I let my ADHD know that I’m not going to forget, that it’s eventually going to get done, it quiets.
Sure I could put this information in my phone, but I find that using the phone tends to bog me down and disconnect me, but I do use it for other tasks.
I think ADHD is one reason I started to forget to do things again. I stopped using my notebook and started using my iPhone and iPad more -- to create to do lists etc. I think I need to do both. But I want to start with pencil and paper. It just feels more natural to me and the author of the article is right. Once I write it down, my mind knows that I’m not going to forget, and it gets a lot less noisy up there.
