Exploring and exploding the issues surrounding men and mental illness.
We’ve all heard it a million times: Real men don’t cry.
It starts early. If a little boy is teased on the playground and wells with tears, his parents echo, “Toughen up.”
The notion that manliness means bearing emotional pain alone, silently, is deeply embedded in our culture. But the men and women who have contributed to The Good Men Project’s special section on men and mental illness know that those old tropes are bullshit. We know that seeking treatment is a sign of strength, that speaking of what hurts you is the way to healing.
We hope that the stories we’ve collected here will be an invitation for the world to stop stigmatizing mental illness, and start allowing for true healing and growth.
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Why Can’t My Ex-Husband Talk About Our Son’s Psychiatric Disorder?
by Pauline Gaines
Part of accepting a person with a psychiatric disorder as a complete person, writes Pauline Gaines, is acknowledging the disorder.
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Headaches
by Andy May
When it comes to Clinical Depression, there is a very fine line between refusing to talk about your problems and being ‘manly’ about them.
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Troubled Hearts and Silent Pain
by J. Victoria Sanders
J. Victoria Sanders writes that black men often struggle with depression and other mental illnesses in silence, with deadly consequences.
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Autism in Vogue
by Simon Taylor
After years of working with autistic boys, Simon Taylor questions the efficacy of diagnosing mental disorders in children.
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Hey Guys, Are You Depressed and Don’t Know It?
by Jed Diamond, PhD
Jed Diamond didn’t think he was depressed until his wife and two doctors convinced him.
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A Partial Defence Of Narcissism
by Quiet Riot Girl
Quiet Riot Girl believes that narcissism is less a personality disorder, than a normal attribute of contemporary culture—even for men.
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Not All Narcissists Love What They See in the Mirror
by Anonymous
A man diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder explains how living with NPD is very different from what one might expect.
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Coming Soon:
Tiny Bits of Joy