65% of patients who consult a shrink are women

Mental health concerns women as much as men. And yet, they often reluctant to consult a professional mental health.

Women would be 2 times more affected than men by depression. But should we conclude that men are doing well? Not really. Depression, anxiety, addictions, eating disorders … Men also suffer from these mental disorders, but few show it. According to a French study, carried out in 2024 by Univadis, the majority of people who consult a psychiatrist (65%) or a psychologist (67%) are indeed women. Why such modesty? How to explain this reluctance to consult a mental health professional? We explain to you!

Fewer men in shrinks

DRE Caroline Depuydt, psychiatrist and general medical director of the Brussels psychiatric group Epsylon,, confirms this trend. Even if according to her, the gap would be slightly less marked (55% and 45%).

“There are more men among cases of schizophrenia,” she calculates, more women in eating disorders, but as many men as women in cases of depression and bipolarity. “

Psy appointment: a persistent taboo

And if speech is little by little, it remains difficult in 2025 for many men to consult a shrink, to show their weaknesses and their vulnerabilities. Subject to the injunction of being strong and solid, they are less often asked the question of their psychological well-being.

The main reason? For 79% of them, mental health remains a taboo subject. And very little dare to push the door of a cabinet. “I can get out of it on my own”, “I’m not crazy”, “just a little will”, “I’m not going to go tell what I already know to a stranger” … So many sentences that reflect received ideas still deeply rooted in many men.

Too late care

Consequence: when they end up consulting, it is often as a last resort. “They are in a fairly critical state, because they have tried to get out of it alone for months, even years. It is therefore really in desperation that they will consult.”

The suicide figures are proof of this: in Belgium, there are almost 3 times more men who kill themselves than women (1,174 men, against 467 women in 2021).

An encouraging evolution

Fortunately, mentalities are changing. Between 2023 and 2024, the same survey reports a 29% increase in the number of male patients, compared to 26% in women. “Today, I have around 2/3 of women against 1/3 of men,” notes DRE Anne-Françoise Meulemans, doctor-psychotherapist and Centermergences coordinator. “While 20 years ago, I only had a man from time to time.”

According to the specialist, there is a general awareness of mental health issues in the population, thanks in particular to better awareness in the media. Burn-outs, for example, are now well known and associated with the world of work. Men therefore feel more authorized to push the door of a psychiatrist.

“The male identity, too, is called into question”, she continues. “It should no longer necessarily express themselves in the form of violence and virility. It is likely that the less society will be patriarchal, the more men will come to consultation.”

Do you feel that it would be beneficial for one of your loved ones to consult? Tell him about your own experience. Explain to him that there are different forms of therapy, from the shortest to the longest, and that it is not necessarily necessary to tell all his childhood on a couch at the rate of 2 sessions per week.

Then let time do his work: an approach towards psychological aid is much more likely to succeed if it emanates from a personal desire, and not from external pressure.

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