Thanks for the rave this morning ???? #warriordown #theprodigy #keithflint pic.twitter.com/g2PD51z6qp — Amy Walsh (@AmyWalsh1306) March 27, 2019 Music fans were shocked when Keith Flint, frontman of The Prodigy, was found dead, earlier this month. Initial reports showed that the 49-year-old singer had hanged himself, after a long battle with alcohol and prescription drugs. The breakdown of Flint’s marriage was said to be a major contributory factor. Sadly, this is far from an uncommon event, we also recently saw that Mike Thalassitis from love island has committed suicide too. However, this is not just related to celebrities. Suicide is the biggest cause of death in men under 35 in the UK (source: Office for National Statistics, 2018). Over three-quarters of people who kill themselves in the UK each year are men. The suicide rate is highest in middle-aged men (40 to 50-year-old age group) accounting for a staggering 24 deaths for every 100,000 of the population. Campaign groups such as “CALM”, the Campaign Group Against Living Miserably, and the Movember movement, have pledged to reduce male suicide rates. Both organisations are committed to spreading awareness about male mental health. In the last few years, they have worked with businesses and communities to create support groups and safe spaces where men can talk. “we’re alarmed by the increasing number of men who take their own lives around the world. We are working to ensure all men and boys look after their mental health and are comfortable to reach out to others for support when they’re struggling,” says Paul Villanti, Executive Director of Programmes, at Movember. Lee Cambule of the mental health charity MIND (www.mind.org.uk) believes that there is still a stigma attached to men struggling with mental health issues. “Why is it more difficult for men to address their own mental health?” he asks. “I’m still faced with some outdated stereotypes as a man suffering from depression; men as a source of strength, dominating positions of power, the hunter-gatherer, the idea that strong and silent is alluring/attractive, the ‘show no weakness’ bravado of heroes in the media” He maintains that in all of these images, there is little or no room for men to be struggling with poor mental health. Whatever the role of stereotypes and stigmatisation, there continues to be a barrier to men reaching out for help and support. The Men’s Health Forum, in a 2018 survey, found that 12.5% of the UK male population is suffering from one of the so-called common mental health disorders:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Long-term stress
- Phobias
- Obsessive-compulsive disorders.