When I think of what it means to be a man, the first person who comes to my mind is my father. He came from humble beginnings and lost his own father at the age of 12. He quickly had to become self-reliant, taking on odd jobs to help support his family. He grew to become a muscular, 6-foot-2 gentle giant, but his work ethic was his defining characteristic and earned him the respect of the men around him.

Without being a recognized expert in the field, but someone who has experienced more than his fair share of, first, anxiety, and then depression, I wonder if you are not eliding the connection between the two? I don’t know, but suspect that they are two sides of the same coin: anxiety being a ‘keyed-up’ and energetic state in the face of some stress and depression the opposite: a low energy state that is the result of expending so much of that ‘keyed-up’ energy over so much time, that the body, or the mind, decides enough. Seen in this light ‘depression’ is not an abnormal response to external stimuli, but a clear and normal response to prolonged anxiety. If your father had to be ‘self-reliant’ from the age of 12 onward… I don’t wonder that he eventually became depressed.

I think we treat anxiety as something that can be dealt with through something like a ‘work ethic’ and depression something that is unrelated to that… But I don’t think that’s the case. Like I said, I’m not an expert, so take it for what it is worth.