Krista Fisher
Young Men’s Health Research Fellow, MovemberPresenting at the Sydney MHIS Conference
Keynote Presentation: Young Men’s Anxiety: Uncovering Experiences and Pathways to Help-Seeking
Despite being the most prevalent mental health disorder experienced by young men, anxiety has been overlooked in mental health research for this group. If untreated, anxiety is predictive of later co-morbid mental health conditions, such as depression, and associated suicide risk. There is early evidence to suggest young men’s experiences and expressions of anxiety are influenced by dominant masculine norms (e.g., invulnerability, toughness, and self-reliance) which may deter young men from seeking help, instead opting for maladaptive coping strategies such as increased alcohol and drug use, social withdrawal, and risk-taking behaviour. Krista Fisher will present the findings of her PhD research answering four overarching research questions: 1) What qualitative and quantitative evidence exists on men’s anxiety and/or anxiety disorders? 2) How do young men experience anxiety? 3) What drivers and processes lead men with anxiety to seek help through formal mental health services and 4) how do young men experiencing anxiety engage with health care settings? In answering these research questions Krista will summarise the first systematic review on men’s anxiety, the Triple-R Anxiety Model of young men’s anxiety, men’s mapped pathways to help-seeking and finally young men’s patterns of engagement with acute mental health settings. Finally, Krista will leave us all with a call to action, proposing a future research agenda for the field of young men’s anxiety through the lens of school settings.
Krista’s PhD findings make an important contribution to the theoretical conceptualisation of men’s anxiety, and more specifically how anxiety presents and is expressed in young men. This will ultimately improve the identification of young men’s anxiety and support effective community and clinical responses to better support young men who may be struggling. These findings have critical implications in improving young men’s mental health outcomes across the lifespan.
Krista Fisher
Krista Fisher is the Young Men’s Health Research Fellow at Movember and on track to complete her PhD at the University of Melbourne early next year. Krista’s PhD research has developed the first theory of men’s anxiety, which depicts the pathways through which unidentified and untreated anxiety in young men, can lead to poor mental health outcomes including depression, substance use and suicide. Krista is passionate about using research to improve men’s mental health outcomes and empowering men’s social networks who play a critical role in mental health recovery. Krista strongly believes that a community wide approach is needed to tackle the complex mental health challenges facing many young men in today’s society.