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00:17For generations, men have been expected to be providers, protectors and pillars of strength.
00:23But according to clinical psychologist and president of the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Psychologists, Victoria Sinurain Jalal Singh, that
00:33responsibility often comes at a cost.
00:36Men on a whole, they pay attention to taking care of everyone that's around them and they don't pay too
00:42much attention to themselves.
00:44And man's mental well-being directly affects his family and persons around him.
00:50And so having a month dedicated to mental awareness, sorry, to men's mental health means that we increase the awareness.
01:01Despite growing conversations around mental wellness, Jalal Singh says many men remain reluctant to seek professional help.
01:10In Trinidad and Tobago, we find that men are less likely to seek help for their mental well-being.
01:17It doesn't necessarily mean that they don't believe that seeking help can increase the state of wellness, but they're more
01:25likely to do so for their children, for loved ones, than for themselves.
01:29And a big part of that has to do with the stigma that is attached to mental illness, the cultural
01:37stigma of it and what we hear in Trinidad and Tobago.
01:40Part of the challenge, she says, stems from cultural expectations that have shaped generations of men.
01:47But she believes it's time to redefine what strength really means.
01:52Jalal Singh says those attitudes are often shaped by messages many boys hear from a young age.
01:59Culturally, we're taught that boys don't cry.
02:02Men don't cry.
02:03They don't show their emotions.
02:05They're not in touch with their feminine side, as they say, whatever that means.
02:11But, you know, when we think about the strength that men are supposed to be strong, we need to redefine
02:16what strong means.
02:18So strong should not mean that they don't cry.
02:21Strong should not mean that they are able to express their emotions.
02:24Instead, strong should mean that they are able and that they are courageous enough to allow themselves the vulnerable space
02:33of expressing difficult emotions and feeling their feelings so that they are able to not only face it, acknowledge it,
02:42encounter it, but process it in a healthy way.
02:44When those emotions remain, the consequences can show up in ways people may not immediately recognize.
02:52I think for this question, we can generalize that it's not necessarily men, but it's all of us.
02:58When we experience difficult things and we experience distress, that usually comes with a lot of emotions.
03:06We have no problem expressing positive emotions, but when it comes to acknowledging and expressing negative emotions, we're less likely
03:15to do so.
03:16Keeping these emotions in are kind of like setting a fire under a pressure cooker.
03:21She says many men begin withdrawing from family and friends, burying themselves in work or turning to unhealthy coping mechanisms.
03:30What we see happening with a lot of men is that they withdraw from family and friends, so they may
03:36seek comforts elsewhere.
03:37They may bury themselves in work.
03:39A lot of people, a lot of people, a lot of men as well, they may turn to alcohol and
03:43other substance use in order to help themselves mask the effects, the effects of these negative emotions.
03:51For men who believe seeking help is a sign of weakness, J. Lal Singh offers this advice.
03:57I would say that strength is not equal to silence.
04:03Holding it in just means that you're putting yourself under pressure.
04:09If you're not comfortable saying it to a person, say it to a plant, go to the beach, say it
04:16to the ocean, but say it, express it in a healthy and helpful way.
04:22She says maintaining good mental health doesn't always require major changes.
04:28Talk, the other one is move, and I don't think we pay attention to how important movement is.
04:35When we were children, in primary school, our teachers would often say, hands up, hands out, hands down.
04:42And many of us, we don't realize that doing two minutes of hands out, hands out, hands sideways, and then
04:50hands down.
04:51Two minutes of that every day does wonders for the amount of stress that we carry.
04:57In addition to that, eating healthy and exercising is always a great idea.
05:01I am Charlotte Kista with tonight's Health Watch.
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