on was labeled a disease, society has thought of it primarily as a womans disease. The common visual symptoms of depression involve characteristics more often attributed to women, such as the displaying of emotions and letting ones emotions visibly affect ones life. These characteristics counteract our societys stereotypical definition of a man, so we often support the idea that a man shouldnt, or even cant become depressed. Although depression itself is a disease that will probably always affect human kind, and cannot always be blamed on society, the fact that so many cases of depression go untreated, especially in men, can be blamed on society. As a direct cause of mans socially learned detachment from emotion, male depression becomes viewed as shameful and goes ignored, denied, and untreated.The phenomenon of untreated male depression is rooted in two of societys most damaging ideas about men and emotion. One idea is that men ought not talk about or express their emotions. Psychologist Larry Ettkin hypothesizes that while growing up males have a hard time finding people with whom they can share their emotions. Growing up, boys often do not view their mother, usually the nurturing, comforting parent, as someone they can share their feelings involving sexuality, anger, and aggression with. They often see their fathers as distant, emotionally unavailable, and the people who dish out punishments. Although this can lead to some amount of healthy bonding with other adult role models and with male peers, often it leads to men growing up with an underdeveloped sense of their own emotions.On the level of personal preservation, it is almost necessary that men do not disclose their emotions, for society will often chastise them for it. Researchers Hammen and Peters conducted a study on this issue. They had hundreds of college students, male and female, go to their roommates for help with their own depression. A distinct pattern deve...
