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Sharing – Fewer friends, outlets and direction: Why boys are dying by suicide at an inordinate pace.
ByMikeM April 25, 2025April 25, 2025 Reading Time: 2 minutes

We know that connection is a key indicator of mental health, and the number of people, not just men, who lack meaningful connections is increasing. Perhaps instead of telling boys all how they shouldn’t connect unless it’s in a very short list of acceptable ways, we should embrace all the ways they can connect.

What I’ve known since I was a child being abused is that boys who are withdrawn and disconnected are easy targets for some evil people. It’s dangerous. Stop limiting the ways they can connect; young men need to stop limiting themselves and find healthy connections.

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Sharing – Stop Calling It A ‘Male Epidemic’ – Loneliness Is Everywhere
ByMikeM April 21, 2025April 21, 2025 Reading Time: 1 minute

We have created a culture that makes it challenging to form and sustain meaningful connections. It truly is a cultural problem. Whether it’s the lack of third places, our focus on work instead of community, or the fear of reaching out to others, we’re growing increasingly isolated.

That isolation might feel like independence, but it does real harm.

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Sharing – Why Most Efforts to Address Mental Health Stigma Miss the Mark
ByMikeM April 16, 2025April 16, 2025 Reading Time: 2 minutes

We’ve done a lot of work to eliminate stigma over the years. It’s nearly impossible to argue that there is a significant number of people in the US who don’t know about mental health, or understand that it’s not uncommon. And yet, we still have a stigma problem:

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Sharing – Nearly 1 in 5 men won’t seek professional mental health, new report finds
ByMikeM April 12, 2025April 12, 2025 Reading Time: 1 minute

This reluctance to get help kills people. The societal norm that says it’s weak for men to seek professional help, that we should be strong and stoic in the face of every situation, kills men.

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Sharing – Mental health: ‘Shame is carried by people as a result of trauma. That sense of shame might be buried quite deep’
ByMikeM April 7, 2025April 7, 2025 Reading Time: 2 minutes

We have done a good job of removing the stigma of getting help for things like anxiety, depression, ADHD, and multiple other symptoms of mental health issues. We haven’t done enough to make it acceptable for people to talk about the trauma they’ve suffered. Until we do that, and until we recognize that we all have experienced various levels of trauma, we’re going to continue to have a growing mental health crisis on our hands.

Read More Sharing – Mental health: ‘Shame is carried by people as a result of trauma. That sense of shame might be buried quite deep’
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Sharing – ‘We Know How to Solve the Mental Health Crisis. Will We Actually Do It?’
ByMikeM March 31, 2025March 31, 2025 Reading Time: 1 minute

The reality is that we know what kinds of societal change will positively impact mental health. We know that poverty, pollution, discrimination, violence, etc., are environmental factors that harm mental health. We know that medication, exercise, touching grass, etc. won’t make the slightest difference for those factors. (They may help some of the things that factor into mental health issues, but when you’re unhoused or being discriminated against, a walk in the park won’t change that.)

We also know what it will take to correct some of those environmental factors, lift people out of poverty, invest in local resources to support each other, eradicate discrimination by creating inclusive programs aimed at the needs of different groups, etc.

The only question is whether we care enough to do those things, and the overwhelming answer we’ve gotten in recent months is no.

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