BRIDGING THE EMPATHY GAP

Men's Health Month promotes screenings, mental-health awareness, and open conversations about men's wellbeing

- By Kanaad Chatterjee

Every June, Men's Health Month arrives with the reliability of monsoon warnings and about as much fanfare as a Tuesday. This year’s theme— “Bring Empathy Back’—feels particularly urgent in a nation where male suicide rates outpace women's by 2.5 times, where men account for over 70 per cent of India’s substance abuse cases, and where phrases like “mard ko dard nahi hota” are perceived as generational mantras. The campaign asks us to extend the same compassion to men’s struggles that we readily offer others, yet the very suggestion seems to make people uncomfortable. After all, empathy requires acknowledging vulnerability, and vulnerability is the one luxury Indian men can't afford—or so we've been taught.

THE EMPATHY DEFICIT

“Men Fight Battles We Cannot Always See,” declares this year’s Men’s Health Month tagline. In our subcontinental context, the irony cuts deeper. We worship male deities for their strength, yet deny mortal men their vulnerabilities. We expect our men to be providers, protectors, pillars—everything but human.

The data from Tele-MANAS shows that nearly 60 per cent of their 200,000 callers have been men, with the most common reasons being general feelings of sadness (28.8 per cent), sleep-related problems (27.6 per cent), and anxiety (20.4 per cent). Factory workers across India face particularly harsh conditions—World Economic Forum reports that workers whose supervisors “often” shout at them are three times more likely to make errors, creating a vicious cycle of stress and poor performance. These statistics represent millions of Indian men trapped between economic pressure and emotional isolation.