Fear of anger is just as preventative for growth as is anger itself. For men, a lot of times being afraid of their anger and the effects of playing out their anger makes their mental health worse off. 

Many men I speak to are afraid of the damaging effects of their anger on other people. They are simply afraid of unleashing what they think will be destructive anger onto their mates, partners, co-workers or family, so they muzzle it. Men are known to stuff their anger, suppress it, mute it or fail to communicate it. This creates a host of problems. The anger is in their, building up over time like a pressure cooker, and needs a release valve to depressurize it.

So, without a good valve, the anger gets mutated. It comes out as sideswipes, quips, sarcasm or criticism. It is worn on the sleeve and becomes part of one’s personality structure. It becomes “who we are,” and we forget or simply don’t have a clue about how to deal with it effectively, for fear that we’ll do it ineffectively and be rejected by others for our rageful behavior.

We get afraid of our own anger, but the reality is that anger is a normal and natural force that needs expression just like the other feelings that we experience, such as sadness, pain, happiness, etc. But, somehow along the way, either by cultural forces or gender expectations or both, we as men learned to stuff that natural force that is anger. We hid it, and stopped its organic and expressive flow. 

So, learning to express our anger in a healthy way is a must, to find better mental health and more open and happier relationships. Learning to simply say “I’m angry about this,” or “I’m angry at you” are acceptable and non-violent ways to express yourself. It’s difficult to do, because we’re usually fixated on the person that caused us to be angry, and subsequently spend all of our time and psychic energy damning them and their actions that caused us to be angry. Taking responsibility for our own anger is a must, and we must learn to get better in touch with our own anger, so that it does not drive us into the ground and run our lives.

Wow. I don’t usually post personal issues, and try to leave this space for talking about men’s issues and mental health, but I needed to write a bit about the seismic shift that happened yesterday with the election of Barack Obama as President.

No matter what party affiliation, the idea that America is taking a bold step forward with the first President of African-American decent is overwhelming. To think that this country has, in one day, decisively given hope to millions of Americans who may not have felt part of the American experience is really amazing to me.

I hope that the relations within our country’s borders and outside, both with allies and adversaries, will improve to benefit all people, regardless of race or disposition. I hope that people can feel kindness towards others in a legitimate way, and know that we, as a country, care about people here and around the world. 

Barack Obama signifies this shift, this hope for a new dawning. I hope that he can help to repair damaged foreign relationships, and work with the economies of the world to help themselves grow into a model in the mold of the United States. I wait for every American to have the same sense of well-being and security that many of us enjoy by gaining full health insurance coverage that they can afford and that won’t force them to decide between their health and taking care of their family. I hope that renewable energy – and an abundance of it – can create great jobs, cut dependence on foreign oil in the Middle East, and allow Americans to feel good about contributing to the preservation of their planet.

So, today is also good day for the collective mental health of the United States. It’s a good time to be alive.

- Jason

Do we really need Prozac? James Gordon, founder of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C., says there’s a better way to treat depression—through diet, exercise and meditation. Roll your eyes all you like. He’s used the approach for 35 years with a wide range of patients, from runaway children and middle-class adults in Washington, D.C., to victims of war in Bosnia, Kosovo, Israel and the Gaza Strip. This week, Gordon is heading to flood-stricken Iowa to see if he can be of assistance there. About 10 percent of American women and 4 percent of men now take antidepressants (according to a 2004 CDC report). Gordon’s new book, “Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression,” outlines a treatment program he believes can be an alternative to medication. NEWSWEEK’s Anne Underwood spoke to Gordon about his recommendations and how he’s implemented them around the world. Excerpts: 

NEWSWEEK: So many people have been helped by Prozac and other antidepressant medications. Why do you say these drugs should only be used as a last resort? 
James Gordon: Depression is not the end stage of a disease process but a wakeup call to examine our lives. There are better ways to do that than taking drugs, which have side effects and don’t address the underlying message that depression is bringing—that our lives are out of balance and significant change is necessary. Instead they tell us, “You have a biochemical disorder, here’s a drug.”

But people with depression do have imbalances in levels of neurotransmitters. 
Some people do, I wouldn’t deny that. What I’m saying is that there are many ways to address those changes that do less harm and may be more productive in the long run because they give people the sense of control that comes from helping themselves.

Do psychiatrists hate your program? 
I’ve heard some do, but I hope that will change as they take a closer look at the evidence.  After all, I’m a psychiatrist myself. I have my medical degree from Harvard, and I worked for 10 years at the National Institute of Mental Health. I’m not the only clinician who believes antidepressant drugs are overused and that we need other ways to treat depression. A major study that appeared recently in the New England Journal of Medicine, which reviewed both unpublished and published studies submitted to the FDA, found that, when the unpublished trials were included, antidepressants were not nearly as effective as they’ve been thought to be. A second study that appeared in February in PLoS Medicine, the online journal, reviewed similar data and found that antidepressants were no better than placebos for mild to moderate depression and only slightly more effective for severe depression. 

How did you get interested in alternative treatments in the first place? 
At the National Institute of Mental Health in the 1970s, I worked with runaway and homeless children on the streets, in runaway houses and group foster homes. They came from chaotic households. Running away for some of them was the sanest thing they could have done. I wanted to develop programs to help them help themselves. Later I ran the adolescent service at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Washington. Virtually all the patients were minorities, and many were in trouble with the law. I created a holistic, or integrative, approach to their treatment. I brought in a kung fu instructor to work with them. I started meditating with them. I changed their diets and significantly increased their amount of exercise—lots of basketball, a running club and so on. The level of violence went down on the ward.

Describe the program you use with patients. 
It’s a good deal like what I describe in “Unstuck,” but done in a group setting. Each group opens with quiet meditation. You then introduce yourself and say what’s going on with you, focusing on your present experience. There is no analyzing, interpreting or interrupting. You become aware of what’s going on inside. In the first session, we have participants draw three pictures—one of themselves, then themselves with their biggest problem and finally themselves with the problem solved. It shows people they can identify their biggest problem and imagine a solution, a powerful experience when they’re feeling hopeless.