Men’s talk about anxiety online: Constructing an authentically anxious identity allows help-seeking.

Drioli‐Phillips, Phoebe; Oxlad, Melissa; LeCouteur, Amanda; Feo, Rebecca; Scholz, Brett

doi:10.1037/men0000268

Cited by 13 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…Discursive psychology is a qualitative methodology used to examine talk and text and is explicitly concerned with the social organisation of talk (Potter & Wetherell, 1987). The analytic focus of discursive psychology is the use of language, and particularly the action orientation and constructive nature of language, in constructing different versions of reality (Edwards & Potter, 1992; Potter & Wetherell, 1987). As such, discursive psychological analyses primarily focus on the various discursive devices used to organise talk, as well as the significance of using some constructions rather than others (Potter & Wetherell, 1987).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One study (Gough, 2016), an investigation of an online depression forum, has investigated men's online talk about their mental health. To our knowledge, there exist only two studies (Drioli‐Phillips, Oxlad, Feo, et al, 2020; Drioli‐Phillips, Oxlad, LeCouteur, et al, 2021), which investigate men's experiences of anxiety. In the first of those studies, Drioli‐Phillips and colleagues examine how men orient to notions of control within their accounts of living with anxiety.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the first of those studies, Drioli‐Phillips and colleagues examine how men orient to notions of control within their accounts of living with anxiety. In the second, Drioli‐Phillips, Oxlad, LeCouteur, et al (2021) described how men discursively managed issues of authenticity and legitimacy when seeking help for their anxiety online. Like Drioli‐Phillips and colleagues described, this study similarly utilises data collected from posts to an online discussion forum.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘I know you shouldn't compare to other people, but I can’t do anything most people can’: Age, family and occupation categorisations in men’s reasoning about their anxiety in an online discussion forum

Drioli‐Phillips

LeCouteur

Oxlad

et al. 2021

Sociology Health & Illness

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Despite its prevalence, men's anxiety is arguably under‐researched and poorly understood. The present study explores the reasoning provided by male posters to an online discussion forum about the source of their anxiety. Posts were collected from an Australian anxiety online discussion forum. This study utilises discursive psychology, informed by principles of membership categorisation analysis, to describe how age, occupation and family‐related identities can be invoked within common sense reasoning about the source of male anxiety. References to various identity categories were routinely employed by male forum posters in their representations of themselves, in order to describe the source of their anxiety in terms of a contrast between how they are, and how they should be. In examining accounts of anxiety and responses to those accounts, we can trace cultural knowledge about issues regarding men, masculinity and anxiety that those accounts make relevant. Findings illustrate how men's descriptions of the source of their anxiety should be understood as culturally bound and related to expectations and obligations associated with their social context and category memberships. By enhancing understandings of how men describe the source of their anxiety, this study offers insight into improving the identification and engagement of men experiencing anxiety in health services.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘I know you shouldn't compare to other people, but I can’t do anything most people can’: Age, family and occupation categorisations in men’s reasoning about their anxiety in an online discussion forum

Drioli‐Phillips

LeCouteur

Oxlad

et al. 2021

Sociology Health & Illness

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To our knowledge, there exists only one study (Drioli-Phillips et al, 2020) investigating men’s experiences of anxiety. In that study, Drioli-Phillips et al (2020) described how men discursively managed issues of authenticity and legitimacy when seeking help for their anxiety online. Like Drioli-Phillips and colleagues, this study utilizes data collected from initial posts to an online discussion forum.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous research has examined men's talk in online discussion forums on several topics including cancer (Gooden & Winefield, 2007;Seymour-Smith, 2013), infertility (Hanna & Gough, 2016, 2018, diet and weight (Bennett & Gough, 2013;Hall et al, 2015Hall et al, , 2016, depression (Gough, 2016), and fatherhood (Eriksson et al, 2014;Fletcher & StGeorge, 2011). To our knowledge, there exists only one study (Drioli-Phillips et al, 2020) investigating men's experiences of anxiety. In that study, Drioli-Phillips et al (2020) described how men discursively managed issues of authenticity and legitimacy when seeking help for their anxiety online.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“I Feel Abused by My Own Mind”: Themes of Control in Men’s Online Accounts of Living With Anxiety

et al. 2020

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Men’s experiences with anxiety are under-researched and poorly understood. Existing research gives little indication of how men talk about anxiety in situ, and little is known about how men describe their experiences of anxiety. Online discussion forums provide an opportunity to conduct naturalistic observations of how men describe their experiences with anxiety without the influence of a researcher. Thematic analysis, informed by principles of discursive psychology, was used to examine 130 opening posts to an online anxiety discussion forum. One superordinate theme, where anxiety is constructed as a loss of control, was identified. Analysis of this overarching theme generated three themes relating to how posters described a loss of control: (a) anxiety as an immobilizing force, (b) anxiety as an independent entity, and (c) anxiety as a dualist construction of the self. Our analysis has clear implications for developing and improving interventions for men experiencing anxiety.

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Men’s anxiety, why it matters, and what is needed to limit its risk for male suicide

et al. 2022

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Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental health disorder experienced by men. If left untreated, anxiety is predictive of psychiatric disorders including depression and associated suicide risk. Despite the prevalence and impact of men’s anxiety, it remains largely overlooked in the field of men’s mental health. Globally, men are reported to have lower rates of anxiety disorders compared to women; however, these sex-differences do not reflect the complexity and nuance of men’s experiences. There is early evidence to suggest a male-type anxiety phenotype which may go undetected with generic diagnostic classifications. Masculine norms (i.e., stoicism, toughness, invulnerability) appear to be central to men’s experiences and expressions of anxiety as well as men’s help-seeking and coping behaviours. This is particularly concerning given anxiety increases men’s risk of physical and psychological comorbidities and suicide risk. The effective assessment, detection and treatment of men’s anxiety is therefore critical to improve mental health outcomes across the male lifespan. We propose three key recommendations for the field of men’s anxiety: (i) to develop a theoretical model surrounding men’s experiences of anxiety, (ii) broaden mental health resources, interventions and suicide prevention strategies to encompass men’s gendered experiences of anxiety (e.g., sentiments of shame, physical symptom manifestation), and (iii) utilise informal supports (i.e., friends and family) as an avenue of intervention to improve men’s anxiety outcomes. Without a substantial research agenda in men’s anxiety, we will fail to recognise and respond to men’s gendered experiences of anxiety and ultimately fail to reduce male suicides.

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Men’s talk about anxiety online: Constructing an authentically anxious identity allows help-seeking.

Cited by 13 publications

References 50 publications

‘I know you shouldn't compare to other people, but I can’t do anything most people can’: Age, family and occupation categorisations in men’s reasoning about their anxiety in an online discussion forum

‘I know you shouldn't compare to other people, but I can’t do anything most people can’: Age, family and occupation categorisations in men’s reasoning about their anxiety in an online discussion forum

“I Feel Abused by My Own Mind”: Themes of Control in Men’s Online Accounts of Living With Anxiety

Men’s anxiety, why it matters, and what is needed to limit its risk for male suicide

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