Background and objective: The study was to compare the severity of male depression symptoms, suicidal behaviors, the use of psychoactive substances (alcohol, nicotine), and evaluate personal resources (self-efficacy, coping strategies and resilience) among men from three different groups.

Material and methods: The clinical group contained men with depression disorders diagnosed by psychiatrists and treated in psychiatric hospitals (n = 197). The control groups contained men with physical disorders treated in general hospitals in Warsaw, Poland (n = 198) and men who self-evaluated themselves as healthy without physical or mental disorders (n = 203). Several tests were used for evaluation: a test with sociodemographic variables, the AUDIT Test, the Fagerstrom Test, the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), the MINI-COPE Questionnaire, the Resilience Evaluation Questionnaire (KOP-26), the Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised by Osman (SBQ-R) and the Gotland Male Depression Scale (GMDS).

Results: Most of the men with depression disorders presented non-typical symptoms of depression which are not included in diagnostic criteria. It allows us to assume that a large percentage of men who suffer from depression are not properly being diagnosed. Moreover, we found that men with any type of physical disorder have the greatest severity of male depression symptoms than healthy men. Men with depression disorders have suicidal thoughts and have made efforts in the past more often, as well as having higher alcohol and nicotine addictions. Patients who overuse or are addicted to alcohol or nicotine should be additionally screened for the possible occurrence of depressive disorders, and substance usage should be treated as a symptom of male depression. Men with depression present low resilience and low self-efficacy. They also use negative strategies in dealing with stress.

Conclusion: There is a need to plan and implement effective prevention actions that will take the conditioning of these groups into account.