This month is Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month and PTSD Awareness Month, and I’m grateful because it allows me to bring attention to how PTSD and trauma affect men’s mental health. A large number of men suffer from the impacts of trauma, and there are many ways that men may be hiding their suffering. Men report mental health symptoms to professionals far less often than women in the U.S. Much of the research shows this is often due to various stigmas and pressures typically placed on men. However, another critical factor plays a role and often goes unaddressed in popular discourse. While men and women can experience the same range of symptoms, men and women often have different primary symptoms for the same conditions. Learning to identify the typical symptoms men experience can help us recognize when they are struggling and help them know when to reach out for help.
Research on symptom experiences shows that men often present with more irritability or anger than women when experiencing PTSD. This difference in experiences is where things can become tricky when trying to identify PTSD. Anger is often one of the most accessible emotions for men to identify and express. For many men, it may be one of the only emotions we can easily access or express. If anger is such a prevalent part of the masculine experience, how can we differentiate normal anger from the kind of anger that comes from trauma?
PTSD has four main categories of symptoms, and each category can cause heightened emotions, often experienced by men as anger. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has a helpful breakdown of PTSD categories in plain language. The VA describes these categories as reliving the event(s), avoiding things that remind you of the event(s), having more negative thoughts and feelings than before the event(s), and feeling on edge or keyed up.
So, how do we break this down? How do we distinguish appropriate anger from disproportionate anger that comes from another place and time? As a counselor who works with men experiencing trauma/PTSD, I believe the first step is self-reflection. Keeping a brief log of our experiences can help us start to understand our patterns.
Here is a simple writing prompt we can follow to help us think about our experiences.
- What was I angry about today?
- What were the facts of the situation?
- How big was the anger?
- How did I act it out?
- Did my anger response fit the situation?
- Was it proportionate?
If you notice that your anger doesn’t appear to fit, it’s time to talk to a professional. It could indicate that your anger has a source that needs to be processed and worked through. A range of tools and techniques are available to help us learn about our emotions and the experiences that have shaped us. Having help from a qualified therapist who can really get to know you is often one of the best ways to learn more about what’s going on in our heads.
References:
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2023, February). How Common Is PTSD in Adults. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/common/common_adults.asp
- Chatmon BN. Males and Mental Health Stigma. Am J Mens Health. 2020 Jul-Aug; 14:1557988320949322. doi: 10.1177/1557988320949322. PMID: 32812501; PMCID: PMC7444121. Males and Mental Health Stigma – PMC
- Lonnen E, Paskell R. Gender, sex and complex PTSD clinical presentation: a systematic review. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2024;15(1):2320994. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2024.2320994. Epub 2024 Mar 20. PMID: 38506757; PMCID: PMC10956909. Gender, sex and complex PTSD clinical presentation: a systematic review
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2024, January). PTSD Basics. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/what/ptsd_basics.asp
