Foreword from Men’s Health Network
October is not yet over, and it marks an important reminder:
National Depression and Mental Health Awareness and Screening Month.
This is a time to pause, reflect, and take action. It’s also a moment to talk honestly about one of the hardest subjects to face: suicide among men and boys.
At Men’s Health Network, we work every day to close the Lifespan Gender Gap, the six-year difference in life expectancy between men and women. One of the most devastating contributors to that gap is suicide, which quietly claims tens of thousands of men’s lives each year. Yet, unlike other causes of death, it too often remains in the shadows, unspoken, misunderstood, or overlooked.
This silence isn’t accidental. Cultural expectations have long told men to “tough it out,” to bury pain rather than express it. But bottling up distress can have deadly consequences. Addressing mental health openly is not a sign of weakness; it’s an act of courage and self-preservation. It’s also a critical step toward building empathy, for men, for fathers, for sons, and for the families and communities who love them.
In this piece, Dr. Andrew Smiler sheds light on the realities behind the statistics, helping us understand why men are dying by suicide at such alarming rates, and what we can do about it. His work reminds us that identity, purpose, relationships, and belonging all play powerful roles in men’s well-being.
As we observe this important month, let’s remember that every conversation matters. Whether it’s a check-in with a friend, a call to 988, or an effort to create safer spaces for men to open up, each act of compassion brings us closer to saving lives.
Together, we can help men live longer, healthier, and more connected lives, because mental health is men’s health.
— Men’s Health Network
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The Opinions within this blog do not necessarily reflect the opinions or stances of Men’s Health Network.
Male Suicide and the Lifespan Gender Gap
Blog Contributed by: Andrew P. Smiler, PhD
Every year in the U.S., more men die from suicide than homicide. You might be surprised because the news media almost always provides coverage when a homicide occurs, but rarely provides coverage of a suicide. In the news they sometimes say “if it bleeds, it leads,” but I guess that’s only true when someone else causes the bleeding.
In 2022, the last year for which federal statistics are available, a little more than 35,000 males took their own lives, and approximately 24,000 males were killed by others, which means that for every two men killed in a homicide, three men took their own lives. For both homicide and suicide, male victims outnumbered female victims. When it comes to suicide, that ratio is approximately four to one.
This starts young; males kill themselves than females at greater rates throughout the lifespan, starting at age 10.
The statistics on homicide I’m providing here are mostly drawn from an annual report called Surveillance for Violent Deaths (SVD) published by the U.S. government. The most recent version was published in 2025 and summarizes data collected from 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The report provides information on deaths by suicide, homicide, deaths from legal intervention, accidental firearm deaths, and those with indeterminate causes.
The SVD tells us a few things about who is likely to commit suicide.
Among males, the per capita suicide rate is fairly constant from age 15 to 74 at approximately 29 per 100,000, and then it increases at age 75. Due to variations in the size of the population, nearly half of all male suicides occur among men ages 35 to 64, and approximately 80% of men who take their own lives are White men.
When we think about why men might kill themselves, two potential explanations come to mind. One is that he can no longer work, which can lead to a loss of identity. Work is central to how American men define themselves and thus part of the reason why we often ask men “what do you do for a living?” (instead of “what do you do for work?”). Further, the loss of work means that he may no longer be able to fulfill the provider role. This explanation of male suicide might help us make sense of federal reports (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7250a2.htm) indicating that suicides are most common among men who work in “traditionally male” industries such as fishing, hunting, and trapping; logging, and; aerospace products and parts manufacturing. In all these fields, men kill themselves at least three times more often than the average rate for men (and suicide by women is less common than average in these fields).
The other common reason why men might kill themselves is related to the loss of their life partner; therapists are taught that such losses can be a trigger for suicidal thoughts.
We periodically see such stories in the news as murder-suicides. Reading the details of those news stories, we are typically told that the man killed his partner because (he thought) she was leaving him, then took his own life. One analysis of publicly available suicide notes by researchers Sylvia Canetto and David Lester found that men (and women) were more likely to reference the loss of a relationship than the loss of a job.
A more recent study by Dr. Canetto and her colleagues demonstrated that family relationships, including taking care of others, was associated with lower suicide rates for men.
If you’re concerned that a man you know is depressed and may be thinking about killing himself, but aren’t sure how to start a conversation with him, this primer from Movember may be helpful. If you know a man who is actively thinking about taking his own life, you should call 9-8-8 when you’re with him (and put the call on speaker if necessary).
About the Author:
Andrew P. Smiler, PhD, is a licensed therapist who works exclusively with teen boys and adult men. He is the author of several books on men’s lives, including the forthcoming “Clinical Work with Men: Understanding Masculinity in Psychotherapy,” the award-winning “Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy,” and the best-selling Introductory Textbook “The Masculine Self” (7th ed.) (https://sloanpublishing.com/smiler).
