Navigating Inward and Outward Through Depression

Abstract

The phenomena of men and depression is poorly understood. Men continue to be under diagnosed with depression but commit suicide four times the rate of women. This grounded theory study explored the psychosocial processes that occurred in men who suffered from depression. There were a total of nine men who participated in this study who ranged in age, educational level, and marital status. Eleven interviews were conducted with nine men.The theory that emerged from this study was Navigating Inward and Outward Through Depression. The process of navigating was the core concept and defined as a process of moving through depression and having to steer one's life in different directions in order to move in and out of the stages of depression. The first stage was: Being Different. In this stage the men attempted to share their feelings, but were constantly rejected by society came to believe that nobody cared or nobody would understand their feelings. The second stage, Concealing Feelings, refers to how the men learned to navigate out of stage one and into stage two of learning to hide their internal feelings and thoughts. The third stage, Disconnecting, was defined as the way the men would numb their emotional pain. As their emotional pain became more intense, the concealing no longer worked. The men used external behaviors to physically numb their pain. The fourth stage, Hitting Bottom, refers to the men losing hope for their future and wanting to give up on life. The men had thoughts of suicide or thoughts that death would be an option to relieve the emotional pain. The fifth stage, Acknowledging and Confronting, refers to the ability to acknowledge they were depressed and understand how depression was affecting their lives.