Mental Health

                For more than fifty years I have been helping men and their families to live fully healthy lives. Over the years I have developed expertise in the emerging field of gender-specific healing. I call what I do, simply: “Men’s Work.”  A colleague of mine is writing a book, A Call to Wise Elders: Leaving a Legacy of Goodness for Future Generations. He asked me to contribute and address two questions:

                 1. “Why do what you do?”  Give a voice to the impetus that moved you to work to make those around you safer, more comfortable, more fulfilled, and /or make the world a better place for ensuing generations.

                2. “What do you receive?” Describe the way you personally feel rewarded, (emotionally, psychologically, spiritually) by the process of giving your knowledge, resources, time and energy in service to a purpose larger than yourself.

                Here’s how I addressed these questions.

                “Why do what you do?”  This is the answer that is most alive for me as I write today.

                It has been said that the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you found out why. The first important day is straightforward and specific. I was born December 21, 1943 in New York City. The day I found out why was November 21, 1969 at Kaiser hospital in Vallejo, California.

                The second important day requires a bit more historical context. When I met and fell in love with my first wife, we were college students at U.C. Santa Barbara. As young couples do, we talked about our future and desires for children. We agreed that once we were married, we wanted two children. We hoped the first child would come naturally, but decided we wanted to adopt our second child so that a child in need would have a good home.

                Now back to Kaiser hospital in 1969. After coaching my wife with the relaxation and breathing techniques we had learned in the Lamaze child-birthing classes, we were told it was time for my wife to move into the delivery room.  I still remember the words of the nurse.

                “OK, Mr. Diamond, your work is done now. You can go to the waiting-room and we’ll let you know when your child arrives.”

                I was sorry to have to leave at this point, but we had been told the rules. Fathers were not allowed in the delivery room. I kissed my wife, wished her and the baby well, and told her I would see her soon. She was wheeled in one direction, and I went the other way.

                But as I was going through the waiting-room doors, something stopped me. I felt the call of my unborn child telling me:

                “I don’t want a waiting-room father. Your place is here with us.”

                I immediately turned around and made my way to the delivery room. I came in and took my place at the head of the table as my wife began the final stages to bring our child into the world.

                There was no question about my leaving. I knew where I belonged. No hospital rules were going to keep me away. It didn’t take long for the final push and our son, Jemal, came into the world amid tears of joy and relief. Holding him for the first time I made a vow that I would be a different kind of father than my father was able to be for me and to do everything I could to help create a world where fathers were fully engaged with their families throughout their lives. Two-and-a-half years later, we adopted a two-month-old, African-American baby girl, who we named Angela.

                For fifty-six years now I have worked in the emerging field of Gender-Specific Medicine and men’s health. According to my colleague Marianne J. Legato, M.D, the founder of the professional field of practice and author of Eve’s Rib: The New Science of Gender-Specific Medicine and How It Can Save Your Life,

                “Until now, we’ve acted as though men and women were essentially identical except for the differences in their reproductive function. In fact, information we’ve been gathering over the past ten years tells us that this is anything but true, and that everywhere we look, the two sexes are startingly and unexpectedly different not only in their normal function but in the ways they experience illness.”

                Dr. Legato acknowledges that most of the focus in the field has been on women. She has applauded my work with men and how it deepens and expands her work with sex and gender issues.  

                I have written seventeen books, including My Distant Dad: Healing the Family Father Wound. The book recounts my father’s healing journey from the time he took an overdose of sleeping pills when I was five years old and was committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital to his escape after his “treatments” made him worse.

                It took many years and a lot of help and support for him to recover. I also lived with his legacy as I dealt with my own depression and recovery over the years. I share what I’ve learned in a number of on-line courses: “Healing the Family Father Wound,” and “Navigating the 5 Stages of Love.”

                My present wife, Carlin, and I now have six grown children, seventeen grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. Our work in the world continues as we move into our eighties and explore our contributions as elders.

                “What do you receive?” The answer to this question would require more books than I have already written. But the simple answer is that by engaging this work, I am able to fulfill my life’s destiny, fulfill the promise I made to my family, and to offer guidance and mentorship for the those who resonate with me and this vital healing work the world needs now more than ever.

                Following the publication of my fifteenth book, I thought my time writing books was complete. It seemed that fifteen books was a good body of work to complete my writing career. My wife, Carlin, surprised me when she said,

                “You need to write at least one more book. There is so much separation and conflict between men and women these days (that was during the height of the #MeToo movement and many men in positions of prominence and power were being accused of sexual misconduct), you need to write a book about what is good about men.”

                I was surprised at her insistence since she had always been supportive of my writing but had never told me I should write another book. Books require a lot of research and time alone to think and create. They take time away from family. I also wanted to do more teaching, training, and mentoring and less time doing counseling and writing books.

                After deep reflection I agreed that I had some interest and energy for book writing and began work on my 16^th book, 12 Rules for Good Men and later my 17^th book, Long Live Men! The Moonshot Mission to Heal Men, Close the Lifespan Gap, and Offer Hope to Humanity. I do love to write and I feel it’s a gift that I want to continue offering.

                The gift of these elder years is to engage with my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and the generations that will follow me. I believe that men are both the canaries in the coalmine warning us about the dangers we face as humanity continues to be out of balance with the natural world. Healing men is also the hope for the future. I’ve also learned that when we heal men, we also heal women, children, and our communities.

                I very much resonate with the words of historian Thomas Berry who offered this warning and call to action.

                “We never knew enough. Nor were we sufficiently intimate with all our cousins in the great family of the earth. Nor could we listen to the various creatures of the earth, each telling its own story. The time has now come, however, when we will listen or we will die.”

                The greatest gift any of us can ask for is to have the courage to step up at the most challenging times in which we live and support those who are creating, in the words of my colleague Charles Eisenstein,

                “The more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.”

                I look forward to connecting more deeply.

                Jed Diamond, PhD, LCSW, Founder/VHS (Visionary, Healer, Scholar in residence) MenAlive.com

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                I have been working in the men’s health field since 1969. My work expanded greatly in 1997 following the publication of my fourth book, Male Menopause, which soon became an international best-seller translated into seventeen foreign languages. In the book I defined the male “change of life” this way:

                “Male menopause (also called andropause or manopause) begins with hormonal, physiological, and chemical changes that occur in all men generally between the ages of forty and fifty-five, though it can occur as early as thirty-five or as late as sixty-five. These changes affect all aspects of a man’s life. Male menopause is, thus, a physical condition with psychological, interpersonal, social, and spiritual dimensions.”

                I went on to say,

                “The purpose of male menopause is to signal the end of the first part of a man’s life and prepare him for the second half. Male menopause is not the beginning of the end, as many fear, but the end of the beginning. It is the passage to the most passionate, powerful, productive, and purposeful time of a man’s life.”

                I listed the following symptoms I had seen over the years with clients I treated. The most common physical symptoms include:

• Less endurance for physical activity
• Taking longer to recover from injuries and illness
• Weight gain
• Loss of skin tone

                Common psychological symptoms include:

• Irritability
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Loss of purpose and direction in life

                Common sexual symptoms include:

• Loss of erections
• Low libido and interest in sex
• Increased anxiety and fear about sexual changes
• Increased fantasies about having sex outside of primary relationship

                I discussed the impact of hormonal changes for men going through this life passage.

                “Lowered levels of hormones at midlife are central to the changes associated with male menopause. Although hormones tend to decrease with age, each man is unique and individual levels vary widely. In one study, for instance, the average level of testosterone for men in their fifties was 600 ng/ mL. However, individual levels ranged from 200 ng/ mLl to 1,000 ng/ mL.”

                I also detailed the early experiences with testosterone replacement therapies (TRT) and some of the concerns about its use.

                “While clinicians in the U.S. debated the risks and benefits of TRT, British physicians were already beginning to use hormones to treat men who showed symptoms of testosterone deficiency.”

                Over the years, there continues to be controversy about the use of TRT in treating men. Nevertheless, testosterone continues to be prescribed widely for millions of men. I recently wrote about a new company, GameDay Men’s Health, that has been expanding rapidly with new clinics throughout the country. Says their founder, Evan Miller, PhD,

                “By focusing all of our energy on delivering premium testosterone replacement therapy, removing the stigma around erectile dysfunction services and more, we ensure our clients’ experience is relaxing, fast, and most importantly, delivers results.”

Acesis BioMed: Revolutionizing Treatment of Low T and Other Health Problems

                I recently learned about a new company, Acesis Biomed, that is taking a different approach to treating low testosterone in men. Acesis Biomed was founded by Dr. Vassilios Papadopoulos and Dr. Costas N. Karatzas.

                Dr. Papadopoulos is Dean of the University of Southern California Alfred Mann School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences. He holds the John Stauffer Decanal Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences and is a professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Medicine at USC. Before joining USC, Dr Papadopoulos served as Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Canada.

                Dr. Karatzas is Acesis’ CEO and has over 35 years of experience in Life Sciences in the public, private and academic sectors. He attended McGill University, where he earned his Ph.D., in Molecular Biology. He has over fifty peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor with 18 patents. From 2009 to 2021 he was the Director of Business Development and Contracts Office at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada.

                I recently had an opportunity to talk with Drs. Papadopoulos and Karatzas about their company and their new approach for helping men with low T. They told me,

                “Millions of men suffer from low testosterone (T), leading to reduced quality of life. Acesis Biomed is pioneering a first-in-class, patented, oral treatment that restores the body’s natural T production — without synthetic hormones.”

                From my experience working with mid-life men and their families for more than fifty years, I believe this is a monumental breakthrough in what will be offered to men. Up until now, men who were experiencing symptoms of low testosterone were limited to taking Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT). Now, for the first time, Acesis Biomed, is offering a treatment approach that helps men restore their testosterone levels through a potentially safer and more natural approach by inducing the testes to produce testosterone.

                “Our vision is to unlock the body’s ability to restore testosterone, rather than using external steroids, setting a new approach for men’s wellbeing,” they told me.

                 They continue by stating:

                “What if a pill could help millions of men feel like themselves again — without needles, patches, gels or synthetic hormones? At Acesis, we are on a mission to transform the way low-T or deficiency is treated.“

                Dr. Karatzas stated that,

                “Our unique solution is rooted in the science, developed by Dr. Papadopoulos. His research has led to a better understanding of the pathways leading to steroid hormone synthesis, the pharmacology of steroid formation in the periphery and brain, and the identification of new molecules targeting key elements in diseases where steroids play a determining role.”

                They told me they want to be sure that when this new medication is available, it is safe and has undergone the necessary clinical trials and regulatory scrutiny.

                “Our current goal is to complete our preclinical program and transition to First-in-Man clinical trial in men with low testosterone, also known as male hypogonadism.”

                As a leader in the field of Gender-Specific Medicine and Men’s Health I am excited to continue learning more about the ground-breaking work that Drs. Papadopoulos and Karatzas are doing.

                The field of Gender-Specific Medicine is relatively new. My colleague, Marianne J. Legato, MD founded the Foundation for Gender-Specific Medicine in 1999. In her book, Eve’s Rib: The New Science of Gender-Specific Medicine and How It Can Save Your Life, she says,

                “Until now, we’ve acted as though men and women are essentially identical except for the differences in their reproductive function. In fact, information we’ve been gathering over the past ten years tells us that this is anything but true, and everywhere we look, the two sexes are startingly and unexpectedly different not only in their normal function but in the way they experience illness.”

                Dr. Legato has told me on numerous occasions that there is a great need for new approaches to helping men. In her book, Why Men Die First: How to Lengthen Your Lifespan, she says,

                “Despite the significant opportunities and advantages most societies afford men, they remain shockingly vulnerable on many levels. Researchers have largely ignored the phenomenon, with tragic consequences. Simply put, we never turned a gender-specific lens on men. We have not thought enough — if at all — about why they are uniquely prone to disability and premature death.”

                It is time that men’s health got the recognition it deserves. I will keep my readers posted on these innovations and look forward to hearing more from Dr. Vassilios Papadopoulos and Dr. Costas N. Karatzas in the future. You can learn more about Acesis BioMed and their work to transform men’s health by visiting their website here.  If you would like to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter and read articles about innovations in field, you can visit me at MenAlive.com and subscribe to the newsletter here.

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