US-based Ghanaian medical practitioner Dr. Anne Sansa Daly has warned against the deadly consequences of hidden depression in men challenging the stigma around male depression.

According to her, men need to speak up as a challenge to breaking the depression silence.

In a powerful discussion on her comprehensive health television show "Health and Life with Dr. Daly," mental health took center stage as medical experts addressed the critical issue of depression among men and the deadly consequences of silence.

"If you're a man, I know you have to be strong but you can't be strong when you're dead, you have to try and fix it," Dr. Anne Sansa Daly emphasized during the program."

"Just because society has this stigma around men that you're supposed to be strong doesn't mean that when you're hurting, you keep it inside, you have to talk to someone."

Dr. Daly's urgent message highlighted the life-threatening risks when depression goes untreated due to societal expectations of masculine strength. She strongly encouraged men experiencing symptoms of depression to seek professional help, stating, "If it's getting worse please see a doctor, we need you alive rather than dying."

The discussion also featured insights from Dr. Omane Acheamfour, resident surgeon at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, who shed light on the societal pressures that prevent men from seeking help.

"Men, society, and our women have a problem," explained Dr. Acheamfour. "Society gives us pressure to be men, our women give us pressure to be men. Imagine a man coming to tell a woman that 'I'm depressed', what would the woman think of the man? That pressure alone pushes the man to hide it."

Dr. Acheamfour noted a troubling pattern in how depression manifests differently across genders. "Women tend to get more depressed than men, however, men are more successful in suicide than women," he stated. "When a man decides that he is going to commit suicide, he does it."

Both health professionals emphasised that the combination of societal perceptions and stigma drives the illness into secrecy, often with fatal consequences.