96 posts · 42,927 views
Gay, Irish, human rights advocate. Much therapeutic experience working with men who are suicidal, self-harming or otherwise traumatised. Doing my PhD on men's emotional problems,their help-seeking behaviours and what happens when they actually seek help. A long-term, pro-active interest in preventing child abuse and supporting the adult survivors of such abuse.
Strong Silent Types
96 posts
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- February 4, 2012
- 05:36 PM
- 91 views
The Common Origins of Homosexuality and Mental Illness
by ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
Zietsch et al. (2012) argue that the 'dominant' minority stress explanation for why gay men are so depressed cannot explain how even in enlightened countries such as Norway, gay men remain so painfully low. Alternatively, they suggest a common but, as yet, not properly defined combination of etiological factors that cause both homosexuality and mental illness.... Read more »
Zietsch BP, Verweij KJ, Heath AC, Madden PA, Martin NG, Nelson EC, & Lynskey MT. (2012) Do shared etiological factors contribute to the relationship between sexual orientation and depression?. Psychological medicine, 42(3), 521-32. PMID: 21867592
- January 29, 2012
- 01:56 AM
- 105 views
Drunken Escape Fuels Much Male Suicide
by ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
Many men who commit suicide could be described as impulsive and in terms of what they seemingly, actually responded to, over the top. Shniedman (1993)called it 'psychache'. Here, Coleman et al. (2011) draw from Baumeister's 'escape theory' to jam together impulsivity, alcohol misuse and lots and lots of anger to conclude that many suicidal men get stuck on a thought, that is, the thought that they must die. Supposedly, this painted into a bad corner montage was inspired ........ Read more »
Coleman, D., Kaplan, M., & Casey, J. (2011) The Social Nature of Male Suicide: A New Analytic Model. International Journal of Men's Health, 10(3), 240-252. DOI: 10.3149/jmh.1003.240
- January 26, 2012
- 08:09 PM
- 84 views
Narcissism Drains Men's Credibility
by ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
If you look at narcissism as being driven by men with fragile egos who act ever so defensively to hide the shame within you, in common with Reinhard et al. (2012), would have no trouble in claiming that the resultant defensiveness would lead to a rise in cortisol levels. However, cortisol is a chemical associated with many human emotions, from fear to rage, and narcissism is a troubled personality trait to which even the decidedly catholic DSM-V wants to bar entry...... Read more »
Reinhard, D., Konrath, S., Lopez, W. . (2012) Expansive Egos: Narcissistic Males Have Higher Cortisol. PLOS One, 7(1). info:/
- January 21, 2012
- 09:29 PM
- 106 views
Sex-Based Personality Differences Struggle to Exist
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
By drawing on a big sample from the US (circa 10,000 punters), the astonishing conclusion was reached by del Giudice et al. (2012) that there are 'extremely large' sex-based differences in personality. Now this revolutionary news upsets the alternative view, that is, that men and women are not that psychologically different, really. If men are truly born stuck with a dodgy set of personality traits, what does that mean for our bad behaviours?... Read more »
Del Giudice M, Booth T, & Irwing P. (2012) The distance between Mars and venus: measuring global sex differences in personality. PloS one, 7(1). PMID: 22238596
- January 14, 2012
- 04:15 PM
- 116 views
Can Mad People Access State Assisted Suicide?
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
The suicidal subject is routinely framed as mad and yet to be mad, as here with reference to the decision in Haas c Suisse (2011), is to be prohibited from state assisted suicide. The ethical quandaries instigated by the unresolved debate over euthanasia get even muddier when we wonder if mad people too should have that ultimate right, that is, (not) to be.... Read more »
Suisse, H. (2012) SUICIDE ASSISTANCE FOR MENTALLY DISORDERED INDIVIDUALS IN SWITZERLAND AND THE STATE'S POSITIVE OBLIGATION TO FACILITATE DIGNIFIED SUICIDE. Medical Law Review. DOI: 10.1093/medlaw/fwr033
- January 10, 2012
- 08:32 AM
- 120 views
Gay Men's Health Crumbling and Tumbling
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
We sometimes have to hit rockbottom before we realise how really wrong we are getting something. In that light, it goes without saying that harsh behaviours and attitudes thrust upon gay men by health professionals and others have been super resistant to positive change. Still, hope springs eternal and Isacco et al. (2012) start at the start by advocating for a process of evidence-based, critical inquiry.... Read more »
Isacco, A., Yallum, N., & Chromik, L. (2011) A Review of Gay Men's Health: Challenges, Strengths, and Interventions. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 6(1), 45-62. DOI: 10.1177/1559827611402580
- May 16, 2011
- 08:51 PM
- 573 views
Gay Men Get More Cancer
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
News that gay men get more cancer than straight men (Boehmer et al. 2011) is not new, even when not taking into consideration the insidious impact of HIV. Why, as in this study, gay men are twice as likely as straight men to get cancer is not successfully resolved, other than to stress the critical role played by anal sex and I would add, HPV. ... Read more »
Boehmer, U., Miao, X., & Ozonoff, A. (2011) Cancer survivorship and sexual orientation. Cancer. DOI: 10.1002/cncr.25950
- May 15, 2011
- 10:23 AM
- 189 views
Fag Hating Families Cause Much Distress
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
Diamond, G., Shilo, G., Jurgensen, E., D’Augelli, A., Samarova, V., & White, K. (2011). How Depressed and Suicidal Sexual Minority Adolescents Understand the Causes of Their Distress Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 15 (2), 130-151 DOI: 10.1080/19359705.2010.532668 In the contentious debate surrounding why us fags are as mad as hell, too much positivist [...]... Read more »
Diamond, G., Shilo, G., Jurgensen, E., D'Augelli, A., Samarova, V., & White, K. (2011) How Depressed and Suicidal Sexual Minority Adolescents Understand the Causes of Their Distress. Journal of Gay , 15(2), 130-151. DOI: 10.1080/19359705.2010.532668
- May 7, 2011
- 01:50 AM
- 580 views
Mental Health Services Do Not Prevent Suicide
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
Wish as we may, the much practised practice of bunging suicidal individuals into psychiatric care (of one form or another)has not yielded the kind of improvements in the overall suicide rate that one would have expected. Why not? A point not really answered by Johannessen et al. (2011) in their little paper on how bigger mental health bucks in Norway have had null impact on the overall suicide rate in that country. Should we spend more or try another trick? On that latter tricky point, the autho........ Read more »
Johannessen HA, Dieserud G, Claussen B, & Zahl PH. (2011) Changes in mental health services and suicide mortality in Norway: an ecological study. BMC health services research, 68. PMID: 21443801
- March 26, 2011
- 05:54 AM
- 598 views
Making Up Gay Youth Suicides as We Go Along
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
Does research evidence have to be factual or does creative truth bending provide a necessary contrast? Waidzunas (2011) seems to stay silent on this but does deftly show how a big claim, poorly supported, can become canon law and effectively 'black boxed' from scrutiny, forever. Well, at least until now, perhaps.... Read more »
Waidzunas, T. (2011) Young, Gay, and Suicidal: Dynamic Nominalism and the Process of Defining a Social Problem with Statistics. Science, Technology . info:/
- March 10, 2011
- 08:39 AM
- 430 views
Unemployment Kills Men Dead
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
Saying as is so often said that men take unemployment harder than women do is to venture down a pathway of archaic ideas, upon which route some unsettling propositions are dug up for review. For example, if work allegedly has more meaning to men then it must have less meaning to women? And could that be because men are supposed to be out at work, working and women at home, caring, cooking and cleaning? ... Read more »
Hammarström A, Gustafsson PE, Strandh M, Virtanen P, & Janlert U. (2011) It's no surprise! Men are not hit more than women by the health consequences of unemployment in the Northern Swedish Cohort. Scandinavian journal of public health, 39(2), 187-93. PMID: 21382857
- February 21, 2011
- 09:19 AM
- 530 views
Are Overly-Sexual Men Really Depressed?
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
A commentary by Ogrodniczuk and Oliffe (2011) on the disputed topic of men and depression. Do men really mask their blues behind a curtain of violence and if so, what does this say about the credibility of depression as a stand-alone disease state? Gender role socialisation always seems like such a good friend when meandering through such contentious matters, until you think beyond the obvious to wonder, hang on, how can it be that when men get depressed they invariably turn to the biff?... Read more »
Ogrodniczuk, J., & Oliffe, J. (2011) Men and Depression. Canadian Family Physician, 57(2), 153-155. info:/
- February 13, 2011
- 12:39 AM
- 286 views
Cannabis Makes Young Men Jumping Mad
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
Large et al. (2011) add to the mounting evidence that cannabis causes psychosis in young people. Or does it? When using such terminology, I would suggest, defining the actual psychotic experience, experienced, including its demonstrable symptoms, duration and response to treatment, would distinguish one-off freak out events from a lifetime of disabling poor mental health. There are many more such quandaries regarding this rather seductive topic, that are equally begging for resolution. ... Read more »
Large M, Sharma S, Compton MT, Slade T, & Nielssen O. (2011) Cannabis Use and Earlier Onset of Psychosis: A Systematic Meta-analysis. Archives of general psychiatry. PMID: 21300939
- February 8, 2011
- 08:33 AM
- 676 views
Healthy Men Bottle Up Their Emotions
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
The crisis of masculinity dictates that men must all be hurtling toward hell at a rate of knots, with nothing in clear sight to redeem us. However, could it be that padded out panic is as manufactured as frozen peas? Possibly. For sure though, much that is said about how men do emotions and do help for emotions that get too much borrows loosely from the truth. The truth, itself, is remarkably more diverse and complex. ... Read more »
Levant, R., Wimer, D., & Williams, C. (2011) An evaluation of the Health Behavior Inventory-20 (HBI-20) and its relationships to masculinity and attitudes towards seeking psychological help among college men. Psychology of Men , 12(1), 26-41. DOI: 10.1037/a0021014
Levant, R, Wimer, D, & Williams, C. (2011) An Evaluation of the Health Behavior Inventory-20 (HBI-20) and Its Relationship to Masculinity and Attitudes Towards Seeking Psychological Help Among College Men. Psychology of Men . info:/
- January 19, 2011
- 10:08 AM
- 502 views
Japanese Men Drink, Eat Fatty Food, Have Fun and Die
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
If you have ever had the pleasure of being in a boisterous Tokyo bar at night, eating and drinking amongst a din that would sear the armour off a tank,you get the feeling that this is what pure, hedonistic joy must be like. And, according to this article by Ikeda et al. (2011), Japanese men love it as well. The downer seems to be that while all that upbeat male bonding is good for lowering stress, the accompanying fat and alcohol brings on health effects of a less favourable kind.... Read more »
Ikeda A, Kawachi I, Iso H, Inoue M, Tsugane S, & JPHC Study Group. (2011) Gender difference in the association between social support and metabolic syndrome in Japan: the 'enkai' effect?. Journal of epidemiology and community health, 65(1), 71-7. PMID: 19933686
- January 2, 2011
- 09:12 AM
- 491 views
How Gay Men Talk About Depression
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
40 gay men interviewed about how they 'construct' depression revealed several co-existing tensions, notably between individual agency and medical orthodoxy, hegemonic masculinity. The findings of this study by Korner et al. (2010) were used to inform general practitioners on how to improve their practice with gay men who might be depressed. ... Read more »
Korner H, Newman C, Mao L, Kidd MR, Saltman D, & Kippax S. (2010) 'The black dog just came and sat on my face and built a kennel': Gay men making sense of depression. Health (London, England : 1997). PMID: 21169202
- December 15, 2010
- 03:49 PM
- 458 views
Childhood Trauma, Male Suicide Risk
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
It seems sensible and seductive to suggest that child abuse causes mental disorder and that mental disorder aggravates the risk for male suicide. However, contrary to what Mandelli et al. (2010) might argue here, I would protest that attempting to squeeze such a multi-faceted and fluid problematic into a thimble is a circus trick beyond reason. ... Read more »
Mandelli L, Carli V, Roy A, Serretti A, & Sarchiapone M. (2010) The influence of childhood trauma on the onset and repetition of suicidal behavior: An investigation in a high risk sample of male prisoners. Journal of psychiatric research. PMID: 21115183
- December 4, 2010
- 10:29 PM
- 571 views
Gay Men Take Drugs to Fit In
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
It is widely assumed that gay men take more drugs and have more sex than their straight counterparts have, but the motivation behind such enhanced behaviours tends to veer toward psychopathological explanations. Could it really be that simple? Ueno (2010) argues for greater contemplation.... Read more »
Ueno, K. (2010) Mental Health Differences between Young Adults with and without Same-Sex Contact: A Simultaneous Examination of Underlying Mechanisms. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(4), 391-407. DOI: 10.1177/0022146510386793
- November 24, 2010
- 10:22 AM
- 545 views
Ejaculation as Defined by Hegemonic Masculinity
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
While much is written about the symbolism of the phallus, little, it would seem, is written about the complex relationship between the ejaculation process and hegemonic masculinity. Johnson (2010) wishes that we would all think more about how masculine ideals sustain and are sustained by this highly gendered, bodily function.... Read more »
Johnson, M. (2010) "Just Getting Off": The Inseparability of Ejaculation and Hegemonic Masculinity. The Journal of Men's Studies, 18(3), 238-248. DOI: 10.3149/jms.1803.238
- November 12, 2010
- 06:50 PM
- 579 views
Dutch Men Need Bigger Condoms
by Ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
By surveying 2,350 men in five European countries, primarily by using the ‘Condom Fit and Feel Scale’, Dodge et al. (2010) came up with the conclusion that while most of these men had been happy with their prior condom experiences, there were some grumblings from the Dutch and the Slovenians. An interesting addition to the reasons behind 'why' some men choose not to engage in protected, safe sex, even though few of us could claim ‘ignorance’ on the importance of........ Read more »
Dodge, B., Reece, M., Herbenick, D., & Schick, V. (2010) Experiences of Condom Fit and Feel Among Men in Five European Nations. International Journal of Men's Health, 9(3), 175-183. DOI: 10.3149/jmh.0903.175
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