It is thought that male depression affects about 5% of all men. The problem is, most men are highly unlikely to recognize the symptoms of male depression, and admitting we’ve got it – forget it!.

Men react to depression differently from women. Men are more likely to become angry or aggressive as a result of their depression. So immediately that makes it more difficult to spot.

That means some of the tell-tale signs of male depression include things like road rage and other sudden anger bouts. These outbursts can quite easily be thought of as being “just usual” whilst they’re actually just the tip of the iceberg.

Most men find it difficult to talk about their feelings. Even men who you’d categorize as “modern” fall into this trap. It’s often considered failure if you can’t deal with your own feelings.

So that can rule out the typical “just talk about it” advice that women can be given if they’re depressed.

You may consider that the correct thing to do is to bottle up your feelings. Trouble is, in the long term, it’s really bad for you. Those feelings can literally eat away at you.

So what can you do if you’re a depressed man? If you can pluck up the courage to talk about your feelings – maybe under the guise of a fishing trip or similar – that’s an excellent start. If that’s a non-starter, maybe pretending that a friend has this problem and you can’t mention their name. Men love to solve problems, so there’s a high chance you’ll get some excellent advice if you go in this direction. A confidential doctor’s appointment could get you some anti-depressant drugs, which can be a good short term solution.

Another way is to use a completely discrete method to put an end to your male depression. The internet really comes into its own here. You can get access to depression help at the click of a mouse and nobody (except your credit card company’s computer) will be any the wiser. You can then read or listen to the anti-depression material at your own pace.

Discover more ways to combat male depression here.