The Man With Perfectly Hidden Depression Analysis

Stuart Walker, a father of three and owner of a fitness club, was able to perfectly hide his depression and suicidal thoughts just by faking a smile. These problems continued to develop to a point where Stuart knew he couldn't hide it anymore, so he began to talk about his feelings. When others got to know the real Stuart, it allowed him to get the help he needed and now he is doing much better with maintaining a stable and healthy mental health (Rutherford, “The Man With Perfectly Hidden Depression”). Conversely, Stuart didn’t want to hold in these emotions, but he felt obliged to withhold from sharing these emotions because of a stigma against men showing emotion. Due to his feelings that if he were to express his emotions and seek help, that he would no longer be seen as masculine, so he traded his emotional state for a social construct. This stigma isn't only affecting Stuart for he is one of the millions of men who hide their emotions in order to fit societal norms of masculinity which also lead to mental health issues. Due to these issues, men need to emotionally express themselves without facing retribution because of the concerning problems with
This mechanism is used mostly when people are afraid of presenting their emotions; this can be for a multitude of reasons. Typically, emotional repression is more prominent in men due to fear of being seen as anemic or feeble due to how forced gender roles are in modern society (Brand, “...Men and the Cost of Emotional Repression). This form of repression can lead to mental health issues such as depression. Regardless, some believe that men naturally are more masculine and dominant and that suppressing their emotions is a natural occurrence that is simply part of manhood. These conflicting ideas can affect how men act on and interpret their