Freddie Flintoff, men & mental health

Andrew "Freddie Flintoff's "The Hidden Side Of Sport" was broadcast yesterday on BBC1, in which he tells - as The Mirror says:

"how he burst into tears as he skippered England to Ashes defeat five years ago"

He goes on to say,

"One of the things that stuck out was the disappointment people had in me, the feeling I'd let people down. That doesn't just mean my team-mates and my coach - your family are reading that, my mum's read it, my nan's read it. (It's) a feeling of embarrassment and shame."

Time to Change is the name for Rethink Mental Illness and Mind fighting mental health stigma, side-by-side - and Joe Nickel's Time to Change blog about the programme is well worth a read. In it he notes,

"Hopefully Flintoff’s film can help normalise mental health, get it out in the open, and help people feel able to talk about it. There’s a real momentum within mental health in sport at the moment: Footballer Neil Lennon was interviewed in the film, and experienced depression as a player. As Celtic manager, he’s been able to talk to young players, helping them to think about mental problems as they would a physical injury."

The connection between looking for help and stigma is often commented upon - we wrote a while ago about how Sinead O'Connor reached out through Twitter - but it's often hard to find possible solutions.

So, are men more prone to bottling up their feelings - and if so, could using the language of physical health help overcome that fear of sounding weak?

Perhaps when talking to men about (for instance) severe depression, mental health professionals should say that, like a breaking a leg, it is nothing to be ashamed of - and use similar language around aiming for recovery, as a way of breaking through defensiveness and to cultivate a more hopeful attitude.

Or does that over-simplify a very complicated area?

Perhaps avoiding 'mental health language' in this way sweeps the stigma problem under the carpet, leaving the real mental health prejudice unchallenged..?

Let us know what you think here, or on Facebook and Twitter