As Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and the city council grapple with funding decisions for essential services, the spotlight is cast on unmet needs within the health sector, particularly in the realm of male mental health. This critical area of public health intersects with seemingly disparate social, legal, and health issues, necessitating increased investment at all levels of government.
The mental well-being of boys and men constitutes a substantial burden across Canada. Approximately 1 million Canadian men contend with depression annually, and the alarming statistic that men are three to four times more likely to die by suicide than women underscores the urgency of addressing what many researchers term a “silent epidemic.”
Males face heightened rates of substance use disorders and neurodevelopmental issues like ADHD, coupled with fewer social supports and adaptive coping strategies. Further complicating matters, men seek mental health services at approximately half the rate of women, with racialized, Indigenous, and 2SLGBTQIA+ men encountering additional barriers to access.
Expressing distress outwardly, or ‘externalizing’ emotions, is more common among boys and men, placing them at a higher risk of harming those around them during psychological distress. Conforming to traditional masculine ideals, which prescribe constant success, power, and independence, can also detrimentally impact men’s mental health and elevate the risk of causing harm to others.
The repercussions of these unaddressed mental health challenges, both at an individual and societal level, are profound. Men comprise around 75 percent of the unhoused population, and male mental health issues contribute to heightened rates of criminal and violent offenses, with men constituting at least 85 percent of the Canadian prison population.
Effectively improving the mental health of boys and men, and by extension, everyone else, requires a concentrated focus on the social determinants of health. This entails recognizing health behaviors and outcomes as intricately linked with social factors such as education, income and employment security, affordable and stable housing, food security, social inclusion, and access to quality healthcare. Social determinants of health form the foundation for a healthy population.
The lens of public health mandates a reevaluation of our approach to violence and criminal acts committed by males. Shifting away from a punitive “tough on crime” stance, the emphasis should pivot towards a public health perspective centered on prevention, harm reduction, and rehabilitation. This paradigm doesn’t advocate for the elimination of enforcement but positions it as a regrettable necessity when preventative initiatives have fallen short.
