Plz do I Review on the 2 attached filled. Follow the instructions: Receive and Read: read through them from start to finish. This initial reading will help you grasp the overall structure and content
Olalde 5
Michelle Olalde-Cerda
Professor Sanvido
ENGL 1302
19/10/2023
Men’s Mental Health
People always doubts a men’s ability to do something correctly especially while being very emotional towards a subject. They are known as “weak” when they ask for help or are being vulnerable. Which when most men hear that they call them these different types of names they tend to just “suck it up” and hold on to it, and they are quicker to push people away especially quicker than women do. I believe it important that we attend to a men’s feelings just as much as we do for women. In the article The Things They Carried the soldiers show a lot of examples of PTSD, very emotional burdens and so much that they carry from the war.
PTSD is known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD Is caused by a traumatic even that a person has been through in their lifetime. “After a traumatic event most, people will experience some degree of stress as they try to adapt to what has happened. Common reactions include feelings of anxiety and mild depression, having distressing thoughts, and memories of the traumatic event difficulty sleeping and feeling hyper alert to any signs in danger” (Kaminer, Debra, and Gillian Eagle pp. 29) This relates to the article because the way that O'Brien talks about the war shows all the traumatic emotions that starts to pile up. And this shows signs of PTSD. PTSD also deals with the emotional burden of what anybody could experience in their lifetime, and in The Things, They Carried all the solders experienced the traumatic events of the Vietnam War. This article also talks about the reasons why people could have experienced PTSD. “In the evenings I’d sometimes borrow my father’s car and drive aimlessly around town, feeling sorry for myself, thinking about the war and the pig factory and how my life seemed to be collapsing toward slaughter” (O’Brien chap 4). This quote from the article clearly shows all the trauma that he remembered from the war. He also shows the fear he has throughout this time. This ties into men’s mental health because people tend to focus on women’s health more than a man, because they are supposed to be “a man.” The more you don’t let it out the more the experiences will come back to you.
“All those eyes on me – the town, the whole universe – and I couldn’t risk the embarrassment. I was as if there were and audience to my life, that swirl of faces along the river, and in my head. I could hear people screaming at me” (O’Brien chap 4). This is when he was first drafted into the Vietnam War. He felt ashamed for not wanting to go into the war. He carried this burden on his shoulders because he figured if he didn’t go to the war then he would be known as an embarrassment to everyone around him. This is not what he wanted so he went and regretted everything. “In our current media setting in the U.S., men are underrepresented and misrepresented in the media especially when it comes to their mental health” (Mesa pp 4). What this quote is trying to say is that men’s mental health is seen wrong when it comes to film. Just like in the story men are shown to handle their problems much differently. This correlates to The Things They Carried because like the character O’Brien he was afraid to tell anyone that he didn’t want to partake in the war because he feared being call a coward or an embarrassment to those around him. This whole article is talking about how men are view different then women. That people that makes these films and stories don’t show the full effect that something has on a man, but they do women.
“Depression in men can also have more tragic consequences than just substance abuse. Men are four times as likely as women to be successful at suicide, thought women are more likely to experience suicidal ideation and attempts.” (Shafer, Kevin, and Wendt 107) This quote shows that even though women have more of an attempt rate, men are equally just as capable this still does not mean that it should just be brushed off the shoulder. These men could have been experiencing so many different emotions that they couldn’t talk about and so instead of letting it out they decided to just take the pain away all together. This shows the reason why the men in The Things They Carried, carry what they do. These things that they carry with them help them feel safe and connected to something. Everything they carry has a special meaning to them and why they are trying to make it back home.
A men’s mental health is something that should be taken seriously. The solders in The Things They Carried have shown the emotional burdens that they carry around with them. Something that should not be happening is people thinking it's okay for a man to not ask for anything. Asking for help is something that everyone should feel safe and comfortable doing and not feel embarrassed for it. Men should be able to ask for help without feeling like they are any less than any other man that doesn't ask for help.
WORKS CITED
Kaminer, Debra, and Gillian Eagle. “POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AND OTHER TRAUMA SYNDROMES.” Traumatic Stress in South Africa, Wits University Press, 2010, pp.29. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.18772/22010105096.6.
Mesa, Michael. Men’s Mental Health as Portrayed in Film. 2023. Pp.4. JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/community.34724056.
Shafer, Kevin, and Douglas Wendt. “Men’s Mental Health: A Call to Social Workers.” Social Work, vol. 60, no. 2, 2015, pp. 105–12. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24881245.
O’Brien, Tim. “The Things They Carried. Houghton Mifflin (Trade), 2009
