Male Depression Symptoms

As a general rule, unless their sports team is winning, men like to keep their feelings close to their chest. Which means spotting male depression symptoms isn't as easy as it would otherwise be. Here are some tell-tale signs that will help you to spot most male depression symptoms. Obviously medical advice is essential but men are reluctant to admit that there's a problem let alone go to an outsider such as a doctor to get it confirmed.

Don't want sex

Let's face it, whilst they're still breathing, this isn't a normal mode for men to be in. They're always either thinking about sex or vocalizing a need for it.

So if the man in your life suddenly loses his sexual appetite, it may not be that he's having an affair with someone else, it could well be that he is suffering from male depression.

More irritable than usual

OK, depending on who the man in your life is, this could be quite difficult to spot.

But as a general rule, the more stressed or depressed your man in, the more likely he is to get short tempered, irritable and ratty.

You'll need to use your own yardstick to work out whether this is the case and you may want to enlist the help of a few friends as they're often quicker to pick up on this kind of thing.

Trouble sleeping

This is another good sign that the man in your life is possibly suffering from male depression.

The stresses of depression leak over into lack of sleep. Which then fuels the stress levels and pushes anger and irritability further up the chart as the lack of sleep starts to kick in.

Alcohol plays a more important role

Men use alcohol (and maybe drug) to help them unwind anyway.

So once again you'll need a scale to measure this against. Not marks on the bottle of scotch at home - that would just be asking for trouble when he finds them - but just a general sense of whether the man in your life is starting to drink earlier in the evening and whether the home measures are getting ever larger.

Obviously if there's a bar involved then you'll need to decide how you can monitor the booze without making your other half feel like they're under surveillance.

More headaches and other pains

Aches and pains are part of our body's warning signs that something is awry.

Which means that you need to be alert for an increase in the number of these that your partner is experiencing.

If there is an increase in the number of opened compartments in the boxes of pain killers that are strategically placed around the house, that could be a sign that stress and depression are taking their toll.

Increased risk taking

Again, there's a fine line to be drawn when you observe this one. But this could manifest itself in a more aggressive driving technique or even just higher levels of violence in the video games he's always playing.

But more risk taking in any shape or form is another clue that the man in your life could indeed be suffering from male depression.