employ instead of seeking health care,” says Dr. Cook.
“There’s a cultural bias of, ‘I should be able to fix this myself and so I’ll use what chemicals I have available to me to do that,'” Dr. Cook says.
7. Sexual Dysfunction
Depression is a common reason for loss of desire and erectile dysfunction (ED), and it’s one symptom that men are inclined not to report. “Performance problems can come from depression and make depression worse,” Dr. Cook says.
However, ED can be the result of other medical conditions or medications (including antidepressants), and ED by itself does not signal depression.
“My strong recommendation…is that you can’t go after one symptom; it’s a group of symptoms,” Klapow says.
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8. Suicidal Thoughts
Women are more likely to attempt suicide, but men are more than four times as likely to die if they do attempt suicide. One reason is that men tend to choose more lethal methods.
“They more often use firearms and kill themselves the first time they try,” Dr. Cook says.
Older men are at the highest risk for suicide, and doctors may miss depression symptoms in this group. In fact, more than 70% of older suicide victims saw their primary care physician within the month of their death.