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Reasons to stay alive (2015)
8.0/10on Open Library
Published
The easiest place to start, and a book worth passing on to a friend who is struggling. Matt Haig describes the depression and anxiety that floored him at 24 without dressing it up, then shows the slow, unglamorous climb back out.
It comes in short chapters and lists, so it suits a reader whose concentration has gone, and it speaks just as clearly to the partner or friend who wants to understand what is happening inside someone they love. A 10th anniversary edition with a new introduction came out in 2025.
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Man Down (2020)
Published
Matt Rudd, 2020: Why Men Are Unhappy and What We Can Do About It
A journalist's look at why so many men hit midlife feeling flat, traced back through childhood, school and work, and built from his own life and the stories of the men he interviewed. It is often funny, which makes the hard parts land rather than lecture.
Choose it if you suspect something is wrong but would not call it depression, or if you want to understand the quiet unhappiness of the men around you. It is commentary and memoir more than a self-help manual; Charlie Hoare's book of the same name is the practical guide.
More about Man Down3
Man Down (2020)
Published
Charlie Hoare, 2020: A Guide for Men on Mental Health
Not to be confused with Matt Rudd's book of the same name. This one is the practical toolkit: about 140 pages of plain guidance on anxiety, depression, stress and suicidal thoughts, written by a man who went through them and then trained in applied positive psychology and coaching psychology.
It is the pick for someone who wants to know what to actually do this week, and it is short enough to finish.
More about Man Down4
I don't want to talk about it (1997)
8.0/10on Open Library
Published
Family therapist Terrence Real's 1997 book argues that many men live with a hidden, long-running depression they may not recognize in themselves, one that quietly constricts and undermines their relationships.
That idea is why it still matters nearly 30 years on. If the man in your life would never say he is depressed but is clearly not okay, this book gives you both the words for it. It is denser than a memoir and draws on Real's work with fathers and sons, so read it when you have the headspace.
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Man Up (2016)
Published
Jack Urwin, 2016: Surviving Modern Masculinity
Urwin's father died when Jack was a boy, and nobody around him ever sat him down to talk through his grief. That silence, and the breakdown he went through in his later teens, drive this sharp, readable look at why men are taught to keep quiet and what it costs them.
It suits younger men especially, and anyone who bristles at the phrase "man up" but has never had the argument laid out.
More about Man Up6
Coming Back To Me (2008)
Published
For the sports fan who would never pick up a self-help book. The England opening batsman explains how anxiety and depression on overseas tours ended his international career, and he does it in the voice of a dressing room, not a clinic.
It won the 2008 William Hill Sports Book of the Year, with the judges praising how it tackled one of elite sport's great taboos. Proof that a man at the top of his game can be brought down by his own head, and still come back to a life he loves.
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Thinking Out Loud (2017)
Published
Rio Ferdinand, 2017: Love, Grief and Being Mum and Dad
When his wife Rebecca died of cancer at 34 in 2015, the former England captain was left raising their three children alone. This memoir walks through their marriage, his grief and the family's attempts to rebuild, from a man used to being the strong one in every room.
It is the right book for a man knocked sideways by a death, and for the friends who want to help but do not know how to start the conversation.
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The Stranger on the Bridge (2018)
Published
In 2008 Jonny Benjamin stood on Waterloo Bridge in London intending to end his life, until a passing stranger stopped and talked him down. Six years later a campaign to find and thank that man went viral and tracked him down: Neil Laybourn, who contributes to the book.
It is about how Jonny reached the bridge as much as the rescue, and it shows the plain truth this list rests on: one ordinary conversation can change everything. A strong read for anyone who worries they would not know what to say.
More about The Stranger on the Bridge9
Brew & Chat (podcast)
The Andy's Man Club podcast, and the gentlest way to hear what goes on in one of its Monday groups before you go. Each episode is a guest talking over a cup of tea about life, mental health and what they have been through, inspired by the conversations that happen in the charity's groups every week.
It is a young show, so the back catalog is short, but the tone is exactly right: no experts lecturing, just people being honest.
More about Brew & Chat (podcast)10
The ManKind Podcast
From the ManKind Project USA, hosts Brandon Clift and Boysen Hodgson spend each episode on what being a man actually looks like now, with humor and without telling anyone who to be. Five years and more than 240 episodes in, the back catalog covers loneliness, grief, fatherhood, how to talk about suicide and why therapy so often fails men.
It is the longest-running and most varied listen here, so browse the episode titles and start with whatever is closest to home.
More about The ManKind Podcast11
The Man Hug (podcast)
A small, homegrown show that sounds like friends talking rather than professionals. Each month its four hosts sit down with a guest to talk through something that affects men's mental health, then point listeners to the services and organizations that can help.
That habit of ending with where to go next is what sets it apart: it is built for the man who has started to recognize himself in the conversation and wants a practical next step.
More about The Man Hug (podcast)12
Andy's Man Club
Every Monday at 7pm, except UK bank holidays, men aged 18 and over meet in more than 370 free groups across Great Britain, with online groups for those further away, to talk, or just listen. No booking, no charge, and what is said stays in the room.
It began in Halifax in 2016 with nine men, after Andy Roberts took his own life at 23 and his mom and brother-in-law decided other men needed somewhere to talk. It is peer support, not therapy, and that is the point: the men around the circle have been where you are.
More about Andy's Man Club13
Talk Club
Talk Club runs free peer talking groups for men around one simple question, asked at the start and end of every session: "How are you? Out of 10?" Putting a number on it is far easier than finding the words, and each man gets his turn to talk while everyone else listens.
If a circle of strangers feels like too much, it also has an app, which makes it a useful first step before walking into a room.
More about Talk Club14
Men's shed
For the man who would run a mile from a talking group. A Men's Shed is a community workshop where people come together to make, repair and repurpose things, often for local projects, and the conversation happens around the work rather than as the work.
Nobody has to announce that they are struggling. Turning up week after week to build something alongside other men is the support, and it suits retired and lonely men especially well. Sheds run in the UK, Ireland, Australia, the US and beyond, so search for one near you.
More about Men's shed15
HeadsUpGuys
A Canadian website built entirely for men, useful anywhere and at any hour. Start with its depression self-check, then work through more than 100 recovery stories from men sharing what actually helped, or one of its free self-guided courses.
It is the pick for someone not ready to tell anyone yet: everything can be done alone, privately, at your own pace, and it gives you a clearer picture to take to a doctor when you are ready.
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Man Therapy
An American campaign that uses humor to get men past the stigma, fronted by the mustached fictional Dr. Rich Mahogany, "the hardest working therapist in the world." Behind the jokes is a serious, long-running effort to get more men asking for help and to reduce male suicide.
Its free Head Inspection takes two to five minutes and gives you a plain read on where your head is at. Ideal for the man who laughs things off: it meets him there, then nudges.
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