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Major bushfires can plunge many men into a cycle of anger, despair and depression, a North East study reveals.
The report has warned such effects could be felt well into the future if men could not seek out help.
For many this carried a stigma they would rather avoid.
Researchers Debra Parkinson and Claire Zara, from Women’s Health Goulburn North East, said each of the 32 men they spoke with were surprised to hear other men were experiencing similar long-term responses to the bushfires.
“Four years on, emotions were raw, and most of the men thought they were the only one who was still suffering,” Ms Parkinson said.
“Many were very surprised to find their emotions quickly resurfacing.”
The report will be launched at the “Just ask: Experiences of men after Black Saturday” forum to be held in Melbourne on November 26.
Funded by the National Disaster Resilience Grants Scheme, the forum has been described as the first national and international conference to examine the often hidden effects of disasters and their aftermath on men.
Victorian Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley, said 2009’s Black Saturday “rocked” so many lives.
“We now know that many men didn’t cope and sometimes hurt themselves and the people they love,” he said.
“We owe it to our communities and to these men to understand how to best meet their needs.”
Ms Parkinson told The Border Mail that the men they interviewed described “very clearly” how expectations of being a man weighed heavily on them.
“This is the whole idea that as a man you’re going to be strong and protect your family and provide for them in the aftermath, (to) try to get the house back as quickly as you can,” she said.
Ms Parkinson said it was especially the case on Black Saturday that nobody had control over anything.
She said society really needed to understand that it was completely unrealistic to have expectations of men in the wake of such a disaster.
“Currently they describe situations where perhaps they might have to be in a group and put their hands up to say ‘yeah, I do want to go see a counsellor’.
“Of course they’re not going to do that and some of them perceive there might be ramifications in terms of promotions or people thinking they weren’t coping.”
Ms Parkinson said there was a belief before they started that men wouldn’t want to talk to them, but that wasn’t the case.
When they did a previous study with women it took months to get enough participants.
That study — The Way He Tells It — focused on 30 women and found an increase in family violence in the aftermath.