Mental Wellbeing

The previous chapter focused on the physical impact of long-term conditions and the way they can affect masculine roles and activities. This in turn can begin to impact mental health and wellbeing, which this chapter will focus on. The chapter includes the way men talk about mental health, the value they often place on being ‘mentally strong’, and challenges the social narrative that ‘men don’t cry’. In this chapter I go beyond the physical long-term conditions literature and draw on the mental health literature particularly in depression and anxiety to help understand and contextualise the experiences of men with physical conditions. I explore the ways that men do open up with each other about emotional impact, whilst sometimes masking the full impact from those closest to them. The chapter finishes with what can be learnt from Bristol-based charity Talk Club and their strategies for encouraging men to talk about what they term ‘mental fitness’.