I recommend David B. Wexler’s book Is he depressed or what? because it answered one of the clinical questions I found in my practice. A number of clients have contacted me for “anger issues.” Instead of the classic incident driven bursts of anger, they were irritable or annoyed almost all of the time. Wexler does a nice job of describing a male-type-depression and the issues that arise around it.

They feel restless, agitated, and unsatisfiable. They lose their vitality. Vague, persistent physical symptoms show up like headaches, mysterious pain, and insomnia. These men often attempt to “self-medicate” with potentially addictive behaviors like alcohol or drug use, gambling, sexual affairs, workaholism, and reckless physical risk taking.

The key is that with male-type depression men report “feeling irritable” or feeling tremendously fatigued” rather than the feeling of sadness we associate with classic depression. The book is written for the partners of depressed men, but has useful information for anyone interested in understanding male-type depression.