Gender differences in emotional expressiveness are well documented (see Ashfield & Gouws, 2019). This pain has been defined as meta‐emotional experiences of sadness, anxiety, fear, weakness, rejection, loneliness, emptiness, worthlessness and shame (Berglund et al., 2016 Lakeman & Fitzgerald, 2008 Lester, 1997). Suicide has often been conceptualised as an escape from this psychological pain (e.g., Baumeister, 1990 Shneidman, 1993 Williams, 1997). Psychological pain and hopelessness are common across many conceptualisations of suicide and are synonymous with emotional pain (Williams, 1997). This pattern mirrors male responses to mental health difficulties (Krumm et al., 2017 McKenzie et al., 2016). Cleary’s ( 2005, 2012) study into male suicide in Ireland found that men who have attempted suicide were more likely to report hegemonic masculinity and that led to reduced help seeking, the men's concealment of distress and their usage of more maladaptive coping strategies (Cleary, 2005, 2012). Hegemonic masculinity is regularly cited in gender studies literature as cultural and societal rules and scripts which legitimise men's dominant social position (for a history of the term, see Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005). Conceptualisations of suicide are limited in their ability to explain gender differences in suicide, as males are much more likely to die from suicide (Canetto, 2017 Canetto & Sakinofsky, 1998 Möller‐Leimkühler, 2003). Psychological models have attempted to conceptualise the aetiology and multifactorial nature of suicide risk, including static and dynamic risk factors (for a comprehensive review of models of suicidality, see Barzilay & Apter, 2014 and O’Connor & Nock, 2014). For each death by suicide, it is estimated that there are 20–30 individuals who attempt suicide (Wasserman, 2016). There are well‐established gender differences in suicidality, with men at a three times greater risk of death by suicide (WHO, 2014). In 2018, the United Kingdom recorded just over 6500 deaths by suicide (Simms et al., 2019). The past two decades has seen an increase in deaths by suicide in the United States, with males at a greater risk of death by suicide (Hedegaard et al., 2020). If you are having such thoughts then please do reach out to the team at the Samaritans (or the other people detailed in our leaflet) who will understand what you're going through and will be able to help.It is estimated that over 800,000 people die from suicide each year (World Health Organization WHO, 2014). Their contact details are on our patient information leaflet here:, which also offers lots of other advice on how you can access the help you may need. They can help you explore your options, understand your problems better, or just be there to listen. The Samaritans offer a safe space where you can talk openly about what you are going through. If you are having these suicidal thoughts then we strongly recommend you speak to someone who may be able to help. But if you are having such thoughts then please note that you are not alone in this, and there are people out there that can help. If we have misinterpreted your comments then we apologies for contacting you directly. We note from a recent post which you have made to our forum that you may be experiencing thoughts around self-harm.

Im so angry i want to kill myself