The mental health of men in India: A scoping review
Nazia Nasir, Shane Kavanagh, Sabah M Zubair, Ishani Majmudar, Kumar SumitBackground:
The mental health of men is an inadequately addressed issue in India. It is essential to better understand men's mental health needs to inform the development of targeted policies and interventions. This scoping review maps literature relevant to improving the mental health of men in India.
Methods:
A combined database search was undertaken for 2010 to 2024 with additional searches of gray literature. A broad inclusion criteria was applied to provide a comprehensive picture of men's mental health needs.
Results:
A total of 35 articles were identified from 2001 records. The review found limited literature specifically focused on the mental health of men in India. However, broader population studies provide valuable data for established men's mental health needs. The literature indicates a high prevalence of mental health issues in men and identifies the role of factors including socio-economic disadvantage, financial instability, loss of employment, restrictive gender roles, stigma, lack of social support, having migrant children, functional limitations, and poor health. The review also identified large treatment gaps and did not identify any programs targeted to addressing men's mental health needs.
Conclusions:
There is a dearth of literature on this issue. To better support the mental health of men in India, barriers including limited funding, limited health care, societal belief systems including gender roles and norms regarding manhood, and socio-economic disadvantage will need to be addressed. This review underscores the need for more research to explore the mental health challenges faced by men in India and to develop population-level interventions.