Alok Konojia – “Dr. K” to his 370,000 Twitch fans – is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist who’s reaching gamers on the livestreaming platform Twitch to talk about mental health issues and lessen the stigma attached to them. His livestream, Healthy Gamer GG, discusses online harassment, depression, suicide, video game addiction and other mental health issues with...
Category: Suicide
New Research Will Investigate Suicide Prevention Techniques
A new research project will examine ways that healthcare providers can intervene to prevent suicide in adolescents and adults, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) announced. PCORI is funding the study. The project, now in its earliest stages, will randomly assign eight emergency departments and 22 primary care clinics in an Idaho health care...Continue reading
Texas City Renames Bridge to Honor Veterans Lost to Suicide
A motorcycle club whose members walk 22 miles on the 22nd of every month to raise awareness of veteran and first-responder suicide has persuaded the Rockwall, Texas, City Council to rename a bridge in that city “Heroes Bridge.” Third Watch Law Enforcement (LE) Motorcycle Club (MC) President Brian Wilburn went before the Rockwall City Council...Continue reading
Why Are We Ignoring the Epidemic of White Male Suicides?
Dear Healthy Men: You recently wrote about a CDC report that supposedly showed that males are more likely than females to commit suicide. Well, my 19-year-old niece recently killed herself and I just saw the new CDC report on youth suicides, which said that the suicide rate among females is growing faster than among males....Continue reading
New Year’s Resolution: Better Mental Health
The New Year is a time for making resolutions and focusing on self-improvement. While many of these New Year’s resolutions typically have to do with quitting smoking or weight loss, numerous well-intentioned goal-seekers just wind up feeling depressed. Broken resolutions combined with lousy weather and the end of the festive holiday season can leave many...Continue reading
The Epidemic—and Consequences—of Male Loneliness
Loneliness kills. According to former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, isolation and weak social connections “are associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking fifteen cigarettes a day and even greater than that associated with obesity.” Even when it’s not fatal, loneliness makes life a lot less pleasant. We’ll talk about...Continue reading
Boys and Men in America Are Killing Themselves and No One Seems to Care
Men and boys continue to have a higher death rate in nine of the 10 leading causes of death. Why? To start with, the overall healthcare system is inherently unfriendly to males. And, in some health care situations men tell us they do not feel welcome at all. There are other systemic concerns, including insufficient...Continue reading
Men’s Health Starts at the Top: With the Head
Dear Mr. Dad: I’ve read several of your columns that have touched on the health of men and boys, but you haven’t spent much time talking about mental health. Is male mental health different than females’? A: Very different. Within the broader men’s health crisis, which, as you mention, I’ve written a lot about, there’s one...Continue reading
Depression Is On The Rise In Men, This Is How Women Can Help
While Men’s Health Month came to end this past week, it’s still important to talk about men’s health issues year-round. As a woman, men’s health might not be at the forefront of our minds but it is increasingly essential that women start talking about depression and suicide in men. Already nationally, there has been increased...Continue reading
The Gift of Maleness Part 5: The Third Chimpanzee and Male Suicide
The most tragic indictor of a world out of balance is the suicide rate in males. At every age, males take their own lives at rates much higher than females: Male 10 to 14-year-olds have suicide rates 1.8 times higher than females Male 15 to 19-year-olds have suicide rates 4.0 times higher than females. During...