Men struggle with mental health issues including anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and addictions. Unfortunately, they are far less likely to seek help than women are. Let's face it, as men, we often tend to brush off or bottle up our emotions rather than process them. We look at therapy and mental health as a sign of weakness. There's that stigma that, as men, we should learn to just "suck it up". “Real men solve their own problems” is a common stereotypical belief. Research shows that men simply do not want to seek help for mental health issues – a trend we see reflected in men's mental health therapy in Stratford, Ontario. Additionally, men who do seek help usually do it when there is a crisis. Men tend to have more concern about privacy as they do not want therapy to affect their image, position, or standing. Social norms indicate that men should not be showing certain emotions like emotional vulnerability, fear, sensitivity, or dependence. Expressing these emotions could be perceived as less masculine. However, refraining from showing your emotions can actually make things worse. Bottling up those emotions leads to more explosive reactions in the long run. It's like having that pop bottle and shaking it while the cap is still on. Every shake represents a negative emotion. But what happens when you open that pop bottle?