11/30/2023 — More people are addressing their mental health following the Covid-19 pandemic.
While women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, according to the CDC, men are four times more likely to commit suicide.
“There’s a very quiet population of men out there that are swallowing a lot of these emotions, holding them in, not doing anything with them, and seeking other solutions that are not healthy,” said Sam Fuge, a therapist at Dr. Mary Berge & Associates in suburban Johnstown.
He added “You don’t have to sit at home and struggle with what you’re going through. There are ways to take care of it. There are ways to problem solve. There’s ways to think differently about what you’re going through, and therapy is where you find those answers.”
Fuge understands the disparity between men and women when it comes to seeking mental health.
“We have been taught as men, for a very long time, that we have to be strong, and we have to be tough, and we don’t talk about things — we just do,”
Fuge argues that mentality only gets in the way of the real progress therapy can bring.
“We work on solution focused approaches, We work on problem solving. We work on finding the cause of what’s going on and really focusing on a targeted solution,” said Fuge.
There is still a stigma surrounding mental health, especially among men.
But Fuge says simply having a discussion can help break down that barrier.
“If you’re in therapy, and you’re a guy, sharing with your guy friends that are going through something that the benefits that you received from therapy helped you remedy the situation you were going through.”
Those discussions are even happening now in the workplace.
Many corporations and business owners are offering mental health services to their employees.
“Because they’re noticing that the benefits of therapy spill out in the workplace. Just like problems from home will spill out in the workplace, so do the benefits of therapy,” said Fuge.
If you’re someone on the fence about therapy, Fuge poses the question — what do you have to lose?
“Like anything, if you try it and you don’t like it you don’t have to keep going. But if you go and it works, then it’s worked, and you don’t have to worry about it.”