Cost of poor health-seeking behaviour: Men with mental health disabilities and the benefits they may be missing

By  Moraa Obiria

Senior Gender Journalist

What you need to know:

• Two years after marriage turmoil pushed him into severe depression, alcohol dependency, and withdrawal, Jared reflects on his battle with mental health, why he rejected professional therapy, and the silent stigma keeping men from seeking care.

Two years ago, we interviewed Jared*, who shared how difficulties in his marriage pushed him into depression.

He turned to alcohol, struggled to perform his duties as a head of department at a local university, and gradually withdrew from his normal life.

Today, we ask him whether he ever sought treatment.

“No,” he responds firmly.

Asked why, he says, "Why would I go and see a shrink? It wasn't that I had lost my mind. I was just not myself.”

We also ask whether he knows about mental disability certification by the National Council for Persons with Disabilities.

He says he has no idea about it.

‘She gave up on me’

What helped him recover, he says, was the intervention of his former girlfriend, who was “tough on him” and kept urging him to get his life back on track.

“I would lock myself in the house and drink alcohol to sleep, then wake up and drink again. I would go for days without taking a shower. My ex-girlfriend would spend long hours pleading with me to stop wasting my life and learn to love myself,” he says.

“She begged me to go for counselling. I would agree but then switch off my phone and later lie to her that I had gone. One day, she gave up on me. That was the day I stopped giving up on myself.”

In Kenya, the Persons with Disabilities Act (2025) defines disability to include any physical, sensory, mental, psychological or other impairment, condition or illness that has, or is perceived to have a substantial or long-term effect on a person's ability to carry out ordinary day-to-day activities.

In the US, both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Social Security Administration recognise depression as a disability in circumstances where it significantly affects a person's daily life, including their ability to work, think or care for themselves.

The ADA also covers psychiatric conditions, including anxiety disorders, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Fewer men seeking treatment

The 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey found that four per cent of women aged 15–49 had ever been told by a doctor or other healthcare worker that they had depression or anxiety. Of these women, 27 per cent were receiving treatment.

Among men in the same age group, three per cent had ever received a diagnosis of depression or anxiety from a doctor or other healthcare worker. Of these, 21 per cent were receiving treatment.

Meanwhile, men are more likely to have health insurance than women, with coverage standing at 25.9 per cent compared with 19.5 per cent, according to a gender analysis of Kenya's health finance market published by Financial Sector Deepening Kenya in July 2022.

Yet women seek healthcare more frequently, making an average of four visits a year compared with three for men. They also spend 29 per cent more out of pocket on healthcare.

Having a psychiatric disability can qualify a person to register with the council and obtain a disability registration certificate. This can open doors to government services and benefits, including tax exemptions, education bursaries and training in income-generating skills.

The training opportunities listed by the council include catering, automotive engineering, agriculture, beauty and domestic services.

However, according to information on the council's website, a person seeking registration based on a mental disability must provide a psychiatric report signed by a consultant psychiatrist from a government hospital.

Can you shower? 

Duncan Chengo, a director and board member of the council, explains that disability is assessed based on how much a person's condition affects their ability to function in everyday life.

“The first performance is telling yourself how you wake up, how you take a shower, how you brush your teeth, and how you wash your feet. Are you unable to care for yourself?” 

“The second is work, what we call gainful work. Are you completely unable to perform your duties because of the state of your mental health? Not every health condition qualifies as a disability. It must be established that the condition has affected your ability to function,” he explains.

Duncan also raises concern about men who struggle with mental health conditions but do not seek help.

“Women are more likely to seek healthcare than men. But do you know why? Because men don’t talk about what they are going through. A woman will tell her circle of friends, but a man will keep everything to himself until he collapses. That is when people realise that he has been struggling,” he says.