Relationship expert says "man shaming" is causing the deaths of 100 men every week in the UK
A leading blogger has criticised a charity director for saying the current spate of male, middle-aged suicides can be tackled if more men talk about their feelings.
A BBC Panorama documentary shown yesterday, A Suicide in the Family, highlighted the issue of male suicide through the personal story of BBC Correspondent, Simon Jack, whose father took his own life aged 44.
The programme revealed middle-aged men in the UK and the Republic of Ireland are three times more likely to kill themselves than women.
Documentary contributor Jane Powell, director of anti-male suicide charity Calm, said the crisis could partly be tackled if more men were talked about their feelings.
But Karen Woodall, a blogger and parental alienation specialist, criticised Powell saying men were being discriminated against by a lack of statutory support and that services were skewed towards women.
And such a lack of understanding was a factor behind the deaths of 100 men a week.
Telling men who face these levels of discrimination to ‘talk about it,’ is that it is like sticking a plaster over open heart surgery - Karen Woodall
Woodall said: “Telling men who face external barriers and obstacles to those things that keep them mentally well and healthy to talk about it is like shouting into a force 10 gale and thinking the person over the other side of the hill can hear you.
“The sickening thing about telling men who face these levels of discrimination to ‘talk about it,’ is that it is like sticking a plaster over open heart surgery in the belief that it will heal itself eventually.
“What we are doing to men is wrong, it is not healthy and it is very definitely not about equality.”
Woodall said when men do talk about their problems, "we collectively start a process of man shaming."
"When men clmb on buildings to highlight their plight they are irresponsible wasters who clearly should not have anything to do with their children, when they march for their rights, we say they are bullies and are showing their true colours and when they kill themselves we say that if only they talked about it, all would be well," she said.
"Man shaming. It is rife in our culture. It is wrong and it is killing men at the rate of 100 per week in the UK."
Suicide prevention charity Samaritans praised the documentary for highlighted the issue.
It revealed more than 6,000 people died by suicide in the UK and the Republic of Ireland in 2013 – a rise of 4% in 2013 on the previous year.
“Samaritans is keen to encourage more men to reach out for help, and create a culture where they will feel more comfortable doing so.” said Joe Ferns, Samaritans’ executive director of policy.
“We hope that this programme will encourage men to talk about the issues they are struggling with. We also want to raise awareness of the valuable support available, such as Samaritans. We are here round the clock, every single day of the year for anyone who needs to talk about whatever is getting to them. “
Research commissioned by Samaritans in 2012, resulting in the Men and Suicide report, showed that relationship breakdown, unemployment and poverty can have a catastrophic effect on middle-aged men.
Misuse of alcohol is implicated in 65% of suicides, and men in lower socio-economic groups are at 10 times greater risk.
Men are also less likely to seek help until they get to crisis point, and be wary of talking therapies.
BBC Correspondent and presenter of Panorama, Simon Jack, said: While this has been a very challenging topic to cover, there is clearly a need to tackle the significant issue of male suicide, particularly among middle-aged men.
“Working closely with Samaritans helped us treat this difficult topic sensitively.
“I hope that people who see the programme find it helpful and healing, as I did personally.”
