Masculinities and narratives of mental suffering and self-care

Recognizing the challenges men face in accessing and engaging with mental health care, our study aimed to explore how constructions of masculinities shape their experiences of mental suffering and self-care from a male perspective. Adopting a narrative approach, we conducted interviews with 13 men using mental health services in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, in 2022. The narratives revealed diverse expressions of mental suffering—particularly aggression, violence, and suicide attempts—interwoven with life stories marked by personal and professional failures. Frequently, these struggles were linked to perceptions of female figures as both the origin and perpetuators of their distress. These accounts also underscore how neoliberal ideologies influence constructions of masculinities, framing individual success and failure within the provider model that emphasizes self-sufficiency and invulnerability. As a result, men's self-care strategies oscillate between conforming to and challenging these conflicting paradigms.