The Silent Crisis: Depression, Hormones & Men’s Mental Health

As my fellowship in Nutritional Psychiatry comes to a close, I’m left reflecting on just how far Psychiatry has come and how far we still have to go. There are gaps that continue to widen, especially when it comes to men’s mental health. Much of the focus remains on external traumas, adverse childhood events, and mood-altering medications, while leaving out the subtle but critical physiological factors that quietly shape mental well-being: nutrient status, hormonal shifts, circadian rhythm disturbances, and intergenerational imprints. These are the conversations we need to be having. And yet, we rarely are.

This year, several men reached out to me. Not because they had low testosterone, but because they were depressed. And for the first time in my career, I saw autoimmunity presenting in men. Historically, autoimmune diseases have affected women at much higher rates, but the landscape is shifting. While perimenopause and its associated chaos—rage, night sweats, hair loss are finally being discussed on social media (sometimes ridiculed, sometimes celebrated), there’s a deafening silence when it comes to men. Most don’t even realize they’re undergoing hormonal changes in midlife. And when they do, they’re unlikely to talk about it. In the UK alone, suicide remains the leading cause of death for men under 50. Globally, men are struggling with their mental health and we’re failing to meet them where they are.

When clients come to me, I don’t just ask about their trauma. I ask about their caffeine tolerance, sunlight exposure, ancestral history of mental illness, and whether they’ve ever had their Vitamin D, Omega-3 index, or methylation genes (like MTHFR or COMT) assessed. These are not niche concerns. They are foundational to mental health. It astonishes me how often these factors are overlooked in traditional therapy settings. Clients spend years in talk therapy without seeing real resolution. That’s not a failure of therapy itself but a failure of our approach. We’re missing crucial pieces of the puzzle.

To change the trajectory of men’s mental health, we need to address the stigma at its root. For generations, men have been told to suppress, not express. Vulnerability is still seen as weakness, and depression, as a feminine affliction. Research shows that men who strongly adhere to traditional masculine norms, being stoicism and self-reliance are significantly less likely to seek help, even in severe distress. One study found that men were more likely to open up to women than to other men, for fear of being judged or seen as weak. We’ve constructed a version of masculinity that leaves no room for emotional nuance.

So as the summer winds down, I leave you with a simple invitation: check in on the men in your life. Really check in. Ask them about their dreams, their fears, their sleep, their energy. Ask whether they’ve ever felt “off” but couldn’t put a name to it. And if you’re reading this as a man, pause and ask yourself the same. Because mental health isn’t just about what happened to you. It’s also about what you eat, what you absorb, and what you’ve inherited from generations before.

Starting this fall, I’ll be launching targeted packages focused on Mental Health and ADHD, alongside virtual support circles for men to share openly, learn from one another, and reclaim agency over their mental wellness. These groups won’t replace therapy but they might be the first step toward something even more powerful: connection. And when men can speak their truth without fear, healing becomes possible.