DO men get more stressed than women about losing their jobs?

Yes, going by what Dr Burchell found in his research.

Men who think that they may get sacked, he said, get more stressed and depressed than women.

And 18 out of the 20 people The New Paper spoke to agreed.

This is because men are often the breadwinners, said the 18 respondents.

The pressure of being the primary breadwinner can be intense, said Mr Alvin Goh, senior therapist at the Daybreak Family Service Centre.

'Men have been brought up to think of themselves as the breadwinners. Their sense of self-worth is tied to their work.'

To a man, a job is part of his very self.

Some of his male clients, said Mr Goh, have remarked that they feel 'useless' after losing their job.

He said: 'Women, on the other hand, tend to identify more strongly with family than with their work.'

And as many wives know, men simply aren't that good at getting things off their chest.

Men tend to suppress their emotions, noted MrGoh. He has seen men who say that they're suffering inside from job insecurity, but feel that they can't talk to their wives about it.

Seeking help

Dr Adrian Wang from Dr Adrian Wang Psychiatric & Counselling Care, Gleneagles Medical Centre, agreed.

He said: 'Men tend to cope with stress by drinking or smoking. Women, on the other hand, tend to talk their problems through with their friends. They're also more willing to seek help than men.

'The men who see me only do it when it's really serious.'

Both experts felt that pent-up emotions in men can lead to tension in the family. When the man suffers, his family suffers too.

Said Madam Roslinah Salimin, 46, whose husband was let off from his security officer job in February: 'Sometimes I get frustrated. When he doesn't want to talk, it's hard to work things out.'

Madam Halimah Yacob, unionist and MP for Jurong GRC, recounted an incident last month when the mother of a primary-school girl who had missed school for three weeks came to her for help.

Because her husband had been laid off, they could not afford the school transport fees for their daughter.

Said Madam Halimah: 'The wife was the one who came to see me, not the husband. He was too ashamed to ask for aid at first.

'We need to tell men that it's not totally their fault that they lost their job, that job cuts are inevitable in a downturn.

'Men should talk about their problems more, and seek help when they need it.'

This article was first published in The New Paper.