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Sam Beltran

Richardson Mojica is no stranger to thoughts of ending it all. The 40-year-old university professor and mental health advocate was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and depression in his early 20s.
He finds fulfilment in his job, yet suicidal ideation has always lingered.
“We call it passively suicidal – you don’t want to live, but you don’t want to stop everything,” he said, revealing that he had survived a self-inflicted attempt on his life months ago.
Survival is a daily discipline: continuous medication, regular therapy, psychiatrist check-ins and a support network he has learned to lean on.
But seeking help meant confronting stigma – first at age 23 following a panic attack at work, then for years afterwards as he kept his condition to himself.
Eventually, he told his family, but he found it difficult. “I’m the eldest son, so it wasn’t easy for me to be vulnerable in front of them, to cry in front of them,” he said.
Mojica’s experience is emblematic of a wider struggle among men in the Philippines.

Around 80 per cent of the country’s suicide deaths are men, according to the World Health Organization, and two in five are among those aged 15 to 29. The Philippine Statistics Authority recorded 3,379 deaths from intentional self-harm in 2024, up from 3,133 in 2023.
Studies consistently showed men were less likely than women to seek help for mental health concerns, said Kristine Faith Moral, a clinical psychologist at Ateneo de Manila University.
“This is also reflected in the ratio of men vs women who inquire about my professional services,” she said. “Even more so among those who eventually push through with seeking help.”
Rigid expectations around masculinity, such as being self-reliant, could act as barriers, Moral warned.
If the expectation is that a man should be the one who solves problems, then asking for help can itself feel like a failure
Kristine Faith Moral, clinical psychologist
Mental health professionals say women actually attempt suicide more often, but more men die by suicide because they use more lethal methods.
“This is one possible way of understanding what is sometimes referred to as the gender paradox in suicidology: women tend to report suicidal ideation and suicide attempts more frequently, while men are more likely to die by suicide,” Moral said.
“This does not mean men necessarily experience less psychological distress. Rather, there may be differences in how distress is understood and expressed.”
Yves Miel Zuniga, co-founder of civil society organisation #MentalHealthPH, agreed.
“Suicide is a preventable public health issue,” he said. “But we should be careful about reducing it to the idea that it’s simply because men don’t talk about their feelings … there’s no single explanation for why someone dies by suicide.”
‘Boys don’t cry’
Cultural expectations rooted in gender norms shape how men perceive mental health, advocates say.
Moral said this largely came down to how boys were socialised, reinforced by media depictions of masculinity.
“From a very young age, boys may receive messages that discourage vulnerability, such as ‘boys don’t cry’ … they may be told to ‘suck it up’ or ‘man up’,” she said.
Zuniga warned against treating Filipino men as “one homogeneous group”, noting that gender only added to the complexity of suicide.
Supposedly “masculine” traits such as resilience and self-reliance only became problematic when they were interpreted to mean men should suffer alone, he said, adding that the affordability and accessibility of mental health services was another major issue.

Moral argued that underlying stressors – financial difficulties, work pressures or relationship troubles – could be similar for both men and women.
“Gender expectations can influence the meaning they attach to those experiences and the ways they believe they are allowed to cope,” she said.
Much of that conditioning begins at home, according to Moral.
“Filipino family expectations can be particularly potent drivers of behaviour,” she said, adding that many men were expected to take on the role of provider, protector and problem solver.
“If the expectation is that a man should be the one who solves problems, then asking for help can itself feel like a failure to fulfil that role.”
Losing a job could therefore become more than a financial setback, Moral said. It could challenge a man’s sense of self-worth “particularly when his identity is strongly tied to being a provider or someone who is supposed to have things under control”.
Mojica knows that feeling of vulnerability, sharpened by the social stigma associated with mental health struggles.
“As a man, I think what bothered me was saying it out loud, telling people that I have this condition and letting everybody know,” he said. “Being vulnerable in public, being vulnerable to a lot of people and showing that I am weak, for a certain period of time, when these things happen … when I need to breathe, I need to cry, it’s hard.”
Where change begins
Advocates advise against trying to lecture men out of their instincts, saying what they need instead are peer groups where they can speak plainly to others facing similar struggles.
For Zuniga, a lot has changed in the Philippines over the past decade or so, but much work still needs to be done.
Depression used to be “perceived as being dramatic” rather than a public health issue, he said – reflecting progress, even as stigma and problems with cost and access to care remained.


Filipino culture was capable of silencing men, but also protecting them, Zuniga said.
“Research on help-seeking behaviour among Filipinos shows social support is very important, and Filipinos frequently turn to friends or family before formally entering the mental healthcare system,” he said.
“So the question is: how do we make sure we have a society where Filipino men feel safe enough to speak, and know they’ll be taken seriously?”
Moral’s answer is not to strip away the values that men hold dear, but to build upon them.
“For many Filipino men, being a provider, protector or someone their family can depend on can be deeply tied to their identity,” she said.
The goal was “to show that being strong and dependable can also include knowing when to ask for help”, Moral added.
“Allowing yourself to be cared for and being emotionally present … it needs to start somewhere.”
If you have suicidal thoughts or know someone who is experiencing them, help is available. In Hong Kong, you can dial 18111 for the government-run Mental Health Support Hotline. You can also call +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services. In the US, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. For a list of other nations’ helplines, see this page.


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Filipino men rarely seek help for mental illness, despite making up 80 per cent of suicide deaths. Advocates say it’s time for change


Filipino men rarely seek help for mental illness, despite making up 80 per cent of suicide deaths. Advocates say it’s time for change.


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Philippine Statistics Authority

Man up, break down: unpacking the Philippines’ male suicide crisis

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Filipino men rarely seek help for mental illness, despite making up 80 per cent of suicide deaths. Advocates say it’s time for change

Filipino men rarely seek help for mental illness, despite making up 80 per cent of suicide deaths. Advocates say it’s time for change