Polokwane residents on why it’s difficult for men to open up
The purpose of Men's Health Month is to heighten awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment says government.
POLOKWANE – June is Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month.
This month is an opportunity to create awareness around the mental health challenges that men face on a daily basis.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is defined as “a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community.”
According to registered counselor, Pearl Ramotshedisi, societal expectations are a major contributor to why men feel they are not afforded the room to express their feelings and emotions. This in turn results in them bottling things up.
“From my experience, men feel like they don’t have a safe space to talk about their problems. Often, they are not comfortable talking to fellow men out of fear of being perceived as weak and they also can’t open up to women because it gets brought up or used against them in times of conflict,” she said.
To remedy this, she indicated that there is a need for open dialogues about struggles that men go through.
There are many programmes aimed at assisting young girls and women to deal with societal pressures however, the same is not afforded to men.
“Over the years we have seen more conversation around men’s mental health, however, there is still a long way to go to creating that safe space for men to talk openly without fear of judgement,” she said.
With this is mind, the Polokwane Review-Observer asked residents why they think it is difficult for men to open up:
