SCIENCE: In Men, Depression is Different: Symptoms—and help—are unlike what women experience.

Statistics show that men become depressed much less often than women do. In 2014, 4.8% of men aged 18 or older in the U.S. had at least one major depressive episode in the past year, compared with 8.2% of women in the same age group, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

But experts worry that these figures don’t tell the whole story. Men are much less likely than women to report feeling depressed or to seek treatment for depression. . . .

Women often internalize depression—focusing on the emotional symptoms, such as worthlessness or self-blame, experts say. Men externalize it, concentrating on the physical ones. Men typically don’t get weepy or say they feel sad. They feel numb and complain of insomnia, stress or loss of energy. Often, they become irritable and angry.

Some men aren’t in touch with their feelings. But the larger problem is that men have been conditioned not to talk about them. “There is that sense that they should be in control of their emotions and that being depressed can be viewed as a sign of weakness,” says Jeffrey Borenstein, a psychiatrist and president of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation in New York. Men are expected to handle problems on their own, he says.

This sense of weakness can make depression worse for men, therapists say. “For women, depression is a signal for getting help, that something needs to be addressed in a fundamental way,” says Nando Pelusi, a clinical psychologist in New York. “For men, it’s a signal that they are a failure and are submitting to defeat.”

That sense of defeat is why depressed men typically withdraw and isolate, says Donald Malone, a psychiatrist and chairman of psychiatry and psychology at the Cleveland Clinic.

And this can wreak havoc on a man’s relationships, as loved ones, especially spouses, can feel hurt and rejected.

Men depressed — women and minorities hardest hit, or something.