We are halfway through Movember already, and I've been meaning to post about men's mental health for weeks.
Men & the Mental Health Crisis
- Every year, thousands of men take their own lives.
- Suicide is now the leading cause of death among men under 50.
- 75% of deaths by suicide are men.
Men in the UK are in deep psychological distress, and mental health is not just a matter of brain chemistry.
Behind these statistics, we find that the mental health crisis is linked to economic changes.
Beyond individual explanations
Men in England’s poorest areas are four times more likely to die from preventable causes (including suicide) than men in the wealthiest areas.
The connection between class and suicide is stark.
When suicide doesn't affect all of society equally, then we know it is a social problem -- middle-aged men in areas of high deprivation are at most risk.
The highest male suicide rates are found in ex-industrial regions — the North East, South Wales, and parts of Scotland. These are the same places where deindustrialisation hit hardest.
The Samaritans have a lot to say on this. It is definitely worth exploring their website.
There is a link between poverty and suicide (it's not the full explanation).
When people lose stable work, financial security, and purpose, this can help push them into a dark place. Things are even worse when public services are stripped away.
The long shadow of deindustrialisation
From the late 1970s onwards, Britain’s industrial base was dismantled. Coal mines, shipyards, steelworks, car plants — workplaces that had employed generations of men — were closed.
Alongside the jobs went union power, local solidarity, and male identity rooted in collective labour.
In their place came low-paid, insecure service work or unemployment. Communities once built around shared labour now suffer from isolation, poverty, and alienation.
There is a link between suicide & the breakdown of a sense of community.
* Mainstream debate often talks about suicide as an individual medical issue — a failure of personal coping, or a chemical imbalance in the brain.
* But I want to talk about how social conditions are related to the pattern of suicide deaths.
* Suicide is not JUST connected to being in-and-out of low-paid work, but also to having a sense of belonging and a sense of community.
Working-class men have been stripped of social worth in an economy that no longer values their labour and offers little in return. Insecure work, low pay, poor housing, debt, addiction, and declining public services are the features in many people's lives.
Community centres, advice bureaus, and support groups — the small infrastructures of solidarity — were closed or privatized. For men who already struggle to express vulnerability, this withdrawal of collective care is devastating.
Working men's clubs are mostly gone, and people can't afford to go for a pint like they used to. Many pubs have closed along with many local services and shops, so there might not even be that sense of a local community anymore.
Austerity and the dismantling of support
Austerity has made the crisis worse.
Between 2010 and 2020, local authority funding for mental health and youth services was cut by over 40% in some areas. NHS mental health waiting lists are now so long that many never receive treatment.
With hard times and little support from a community, it is no surprise that suicide rates rose sharply after 2010. When the state retreats, despair fills the vacuum.
Masculinity and emotional isolation
Both men and women experience the difficult economic situation, but the suicide rate is much higher for men. Why is that?
There has to be either a biological or a gender-related reason why more men commit suicide than women.
Social deprivation:
- Women experience higher rates of poverty and persistent low income compared to men, driven by factors like the gender pay gap, women's roles in family and caregiving, and the design of social security systems.
- Single mothers, in particular, face a very high risk of poverty, with nearly half of single-parent households living in poverty.
Poverty obviously makes daily life more difficult and it is the trigger. But what explains the Male v Female difference when it comes to suicide?
Gender is a social construction shaped by material conditions
Capitalism has long rewarded men for emotional detachment and competitiveness, whereas women tend to have more of a social support network and a deep sense of responsibility to look after their children.
The “real man” is expected to be productive, stoic, and self-reliant. These traits suited a world of heavy industry and the nuclear family in which a mother and dependents relied on the main breadwinner.
But in today’s fragmented, precarious economy, those same traits of emotional detachment and competitiveness have become a trap.
Many men are left without emotional literacy or support networks. They turn inward, or to alcohol and drugs, rather than seeking help. This helps explain why men are far more likely to die by suicide — men often act more violently and seek help less.
But rather than seeing this as a matter of “toxic masculinity” alone why not ask:
Who benefits from men being isolated?
Men taught to suppress vulnerability are less likely to resist exploitation, unionise, or demand care.
The answer: capitalism benefits.
The Individualisation of Pain
Under neoliberal ideology, problems become personal responsibility.
Mental health campaigns often frame depression as something to “manage” through mindfulness, exercise, or apps — never as a symptom of systemic alienation.
If you are isolated or lonely, YOU need to pull your socks up and get out more. The onus is on the individual rather than on society, which causes the problem.
Meanwhile, the material causes of distress — job insecurity, rent exploitation, long working hours, social atomisation — remain untouched. Men are told to “open up” but not given anyone to open up to, nor the social time or security to do it.
Collective Response
We should reject the idea that suicide is merely a private tragedy. It has far-reaching repercussions.
It’s a class and social issue that reveals how our current economy corrodes well-being.
The solution isn't fast or easy. We need to:
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Rebuilding stable, meaningful employment and strong trade unions.
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Restoring funding for community mental health and youth services.
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Creating public spaces where men can connect outside the pressures of work and competition.
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Challenging the concept of masculinity that equates worth with productivity.
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Ensuring that care — psychological, emotional, and social — is a collective right, not a market commodity.
The tragedy of male suicide cannot be solved with slogans about “talking more.”
Men are dying because an economic system that once gave them identity now gives them precarity, and because the public safety nets that once caught them have been torn apart.
The cure lies not just in therapy but in solidarity — rebuilding communities, restoring public care, and transforming the economic order that produces such widespread despair.
Until we bring about change, many men will continue to face the same silent, brutal choice: between enduring impossible pressures or ending their pain. In a society organised around profit instead of people, that is not a personal failure — it is a political one.
