Abstract:

Men suffering from depression are compared to women under-diagnosed. One of the reasons for this is that men do not seek professional help to the same extent as women do. Another reason is that men's symptom are different from women's. Men also commit suicide because of mental disorder more often than women. The aim of this study was to describe the coping strategies that men with depression use to handle their life situation. The method that has been used is systematic literature based study. Ten articles that respond against the aim of this study has been audited. The result can be divided into two themes, emotion-oriented coping strategies and problem-oriented coping strategies. These were divided into subthemes where five were more common. They were, using self-medication, seeking support from peers, considering suicide, seeking professional help and trying to rest and reflect. Throughout the study we found that gender plays an important role in how depression is coped with.

Health professionals need to know more about coping-strategies used by males in order to find which support is relevant in acknowledging depression at an earlier stage. The theoretical perspective Sense of coherence (SOC) can support health professionals in making men regain their health.