Anti-male gender bias in the mental health system

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I am not saying that "the mental health system is biased against men." I said there was "anti-male" bias within the mental health system. Overt bias and systemic/structural bias. This does not discount the fact that the mental health system is also biased against women in other ways. I hate "either or" arguments on this forum.

So, yes, the Asperger's criteria ARE biased against women being recognized. So many women suffer in silence. There was a NYT article about this called "What Autistic Girls are Made of" and it's shameful.

However, what I'm saying is that, in the context of mood disorders (bipolar, BPD, depression,and anxiety), there is a bias that works against men being recognized. There is also this mistaken idea that men always act out while women always internalize. Well, fact is, men can also internalize, as I have done, so any such preconception that, as a man, you have to be beating people up and robbing banks in order to have your issues recognized is incredibly harmful.

Then, there is the bias where the mental health system depends on people being open about, in touch with, and comfortable talking about their feelings--something I, and many men, are not comfortable doing. This is a systemic/structural bias. The solution would be to find more scientific methods of diagnosis and treatment. For example, the DSM V rejected a blood test that was 100% accurate for identifying a type of depression that is very treatable and very common. Objective tests and chemical treatments are potential equalizers in these areas. If getting over BPD, depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders didn't involve "talk therapy"--something I can't do and that does not work for me because I have alexithymia and something I feel weak doing--more men might seek help for this problem.

One of the sources of gender bias is that psychology really really needs science.

I linked an article providing this data at the bottom of the OP. In some countries with no access to guns, the male suicide rate is even higher than it is in the U.S. where it's more than 4 x higher. I am not sure about attempts, though. Sometimes, however, attempts are pretty half-hearted. Like I recently took an entire bottle of Lexapro, which didn't work. This might count as a "suicide attempt"--and women with BPD often do things like this--but it's highly unlikely to cause death. It doesn't really count.

Finally, your post is an example of the type of bias to which I am referring. Do women more often internalize, or is it easier for women who internalize to get help than it is for men who internalize? Aggression and delinquency are probably personality disorders, not mood disorders. Among mood disorders, including BPD and depression, they are simply more often recognized in women. That doesn't mean they are actually more common in women. Men are better at hiding depression, anxiety, and borderline symptoms -- women are better at hiding autistic symptoms. Which sucks for bipolar, anxious, or borderline men as well as Schizoid and autistic women.