Anyone else’s blood boiling about the “trial” for social prescribing of football games to men?

[RainSoakedNights]

I know men’s mental health is important.

But women’s health is constantly ignored. It took me eight years to get my sinus issues taken seriously - I was always told to lose weight and it would just go away. I can’t get my anxiety taken seriously (they tell me to just take time off work and lose weight), but my dad has one panic attack and he’s being prescribed medication and being referred for talking therapies.

The NHS can’t fix the most basic of women’s care, but they can run trials of sending men to football matches? How on earth can they think this is a good idea?

Someone else may have said this, but I didn’t want to lose it.

As many women as men ATTEMPT suicide BUT the methods chosen by women mean they tend to get found in time and saved - the way men choose to end their life is usually instantly catastrophic with no chance of being found and saved.

This means that suicide is as big a problem for women as it is for men, but it isn’t publicly seen as such because the success rate is lower.

Source - Suicide First Aider training course

But the statistics for attempts are much, much higher for women. As multiple people have pointed out.

🤣 Christ

are you deliberately ignoring the tales of women's pain not being taken seriouisly? 20 years to get a diagnosis of endometriosis? Childbirth being handled so badly there are poor outcomes for women and babies?

For sure men's mental health is important. But so is women's health. Including mental health.

Loneliness absolutely is a health issue. It is widely known, and backed up by research, that people who are lonely suffer much worse health outcomes than those who are not.

i used to spend a lot of time with a bunch of feminists posting about women's issues on IWD (8th March) and we got so so so much abuse from men that we don't care about men and when is IMD yadda yadda

so we gathered a load of info for men's health resources (in particular men's mental health and prostrate screening) and on 19th November duly posted it all at regular intervals through the day.

We even @ some of the loudest "what about da menz" accounts, and asked them to RT. To more abuse (to be fair, one or two did). But at no time did any of the attackers take any initiative on any other day of the year to point out men's issues except for 8th March. Funny, eh?

The research is clear, as pp pointed out: men's suicide tends to be successful. I am appalled at how many men take that route either because they don't know about CALM and the Men's Shed etc etc, or because they are turned away with little engagement by healthcare professionals. (btw do you know who set up CALM? yep, a woman)

There are many and complicated reasons why men don't report DV, and none of that has to do with women. There are many and complicated reasons why men don't tend to go to the doctor (unless married or in a LTR and often it is their partner making appointments etc). There are many reasons why social prescribing is good for men, but i would like to see statistics on prescribing here - how many women with small children who have time to go to a footy match or massage.

ETC ETC.

And yes, this is FWR, we are allowed to centre women's wants, needs and feelings.

OP, i hope you are feeling well now. And your dad, too.

Research from my GP surgery actually started the whole social prescribing and it's been hugely successful, reducing admissions to hospitals by about 17% (I think) .

It's used for both men and women!

I'm another who doesn't quite get your argument, sorry.

The Frome Model – Compassionate Communities UK https://share.google/rs1Sde6QdBtfYONAq

OP is saying she went to her GP over a period of 8 years with something that required surgery and was fobbed off with "lose weight" for all that time.

And her dad went once and got something prescribed.

For me the issue isn't that her dad got something prescribed after one visit. It is the fact that we know, because god knows there is enough evidence of this, that women are constantly fobbed off.

Social prescribing sounds good. OTOH it also sounds like "oh here, go away now"

It's possible to have two thoughts at once. That women's health issues, and especially with regard to pain, are taken less seriously than men's. And that social prescribing trials focusing on men's mental health are a good idea.

The two don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Highest suicide rates in the UK are amongst autistic people, with a 66% attempt rate despite being 2% of the population.

Autistic men kill themselves at 9x higher rates than rest of the population, women are 13x higher.

Society should be focusing on that. Especially given that traditional methods of cbt/anti depressants generally don't work for people with autism, and NHS mh services will reject your referral because they don't treat autistic patients. clinicians and services are few. 8 year waiting lists in some areas just to see a psych or therapist. Limited if no services in many others. CAMHS dismisses children's mh issues and suicidality as a 'feature' of their autism so they can discharge or refuse to see them.

If you're lucky to get a diagnosis before 18 you will be offered the bare minimum support, and virtually nil as an adult. 80-85% unemployment rate, 63% bullying and victimisation rate rising to near 90% for those with a learning disability. Almost 86% of autistic women have experienced sexual assault, domestic abuse, bullying or mate/hate crime. No other minority group is subject to this level of social violence nor exclusion from society.

Assuming these men are all neurotypical (ie being able to access services without support or advocacy), they can work together to resolve their own loneliness and MH problems. There are 30+ million men in the UK. Nothing is stopping them from forming community projects, or using existing ones. They can join local charities, volunteer, etc. Free football tickets isn't going to create long term spaces for them to do any of that. It's just a goodwill gesture that will be forgotten about next month.

There's a famous mens club offering social support in Manchester that's constantly on the verge of closing down due to running/funding issues. If men's mental health is in the toilet, why aren't more of them supporting it? Why doesn't wider male society care about supporting other men's wellbeing? They need to address that themselves.

The bulk of public funds and goodwill charitable gestures for MH should be reserved for people with access and advocacy needs - that is, children from all groups and backgrounds, and adults with developmental/neuro disabilities and conditions. (Dementia is another neuro condition that gets no real help after diagnosis until you're literally incapacitated)

I see it as separate thingd and not a competition

Haven't RTFT.

Football absolutely does have a positive effect on mental health for both sexes. All team sport does, as does exercise, being outdoors and in green spaces. It teaches resilience, teamwork, emotional control, physical fitness, game strategies and many other things. There is a huge amount of evidence about Sports effect on depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts not to mention physical health.

I'm not exaggerating by saying that my son's life was saved by football after lockdown. It was recommended by his therapist. Teenagers who exercise outside are 3 times less likely to have depression and playing competitive sport is correlated with lower risk of taking illegal drugs.

The dire mental health of this generation is in no small part due to the lack of access to sport, playing fields, swimming pools, cheap gyms etc.

Of course they give a toss. It’s one thing to say there is disparity and women’s health has been neglected, it’s quite another to run around waving your victim card in the face of mentally unwell men who need and deserve support as well. My ex partner and son have spent years trying to get treatment for various different health issues only to be dismissed by doctors over and over again, this is not exclusively an experience that women have. You are seeing everything through the distorted lens of victimhood

Whenever there’s a big game on, men go out, get pissed and knock the women at home about. So yes I think this is probably a bit misguided

What, every single one of them? 0f course women would never behave like that would they.

It isn't an us v them thing. Your anger needs to be directed towards the people who aren't giving you the correct help rather than being bitter towards the people who are getting help.

I think that was the whole point of the thread wasn’t it? But poor op has been shouted down by the typical ‘what about the menz?’ responses.

No? You're not arguing for good treatment for women. You're arguing for the removal of treatment for men. That is the sort of nonsense that drives the incel movement.

But it's pointless arguing with you anyway. You don't want to engage with anyone offering an alternative view. You just want to be told what an amazing feminist you are.

Yes, social prescribing for women definitely includes yoga, where I live.

This isn't a man thing. Social prescribing is for both sexes, and I'm glad to see it happening in my area.

Whataboutism must be an exhausting way to live life.

Anything that potentially saves a life is positive.

Was it? OP says her "blood is boiling" about men getting interventions. That's the wrong angle to direct her wrath towards

her blood is boiling because it took her 8 years to get someone to listen and one visit for her dad to get a prescription.

Again: nobody is saying that men shouldn't have excellent health services. They totally should.

But so should women. And we know, due to countless studies, the various and myriad ways women are neglected by the medical professions

Okay, so OP is then trying to say that her known experience of 2 people is indicative of the entire NHS & country?

As I said in my previous post, look at some of the stats.

• Mental Health Referrals for talking therapy on the NHS, 64% were for women
• Weight loss referrals on NHS, 90% of community referrals were for women, 77% of specialist weight management service referrals were for women

Statistically FAR more women are getting referrals than men.

are you saying you are unaware of how the medical community ignore the pain women suffer?