Men-tal Health
An ongoing series that encourages more men to be open about their emotions and to be honest about how they feel with their friends.
Each portrait is shot in the home or a ‘comfortable’ space where they feel most at ease for a chat.
Every single man had their own story to tell with the subject. Some had been diagnosed with a condition, some had not. The important thing to remember is that mental health conditions do not always have physical symptoms and it can affect anyone regardless of your background.
Throughout each interview, every subject stated that ‘pride’ and ‘rejection’ were common words that popped up.
We struggle to cope when our pride is damaged due to a break-up, poor university results or losing a job.
We struggle to interpret our emotions when we are rejected in relationships, friendships, education and employment.
Why?
Our coping mechanisms when we are at our lowest involve dangerous behaviour that make our mental health far worse. These include alcohol abuse, substance abuse and violence.
As men we struggle to interpret our emotions unlike women who are far more emotionally intelligent than us. When a man is: happy, upset, anxious, confused, tired, etc we struggle to interpret the emotion and respond in anger. This is not the case with women.
However this ‘English stiff upper lip’ attitude is changing. Throughout each portrait, every man started to open up to me about them struggling to be more open about how they feel. A handful of subjects discussed their trips to the GP and how they were diagnosed with the condition. Something that was unheard of 10n years ago.
