Stephen whines a lot, and Rimmer is always making excuses. But I don't think they want to feel sorry for themselves. They want to live up to these ideas of themselves that they have, and that means "being a man", which means no wallowing in self-pity. Even if/when they do it, they don't like themselves for doing it.

I'll be interested to see if at any point you think what's happening to "Stephen" is becoming overkill ^_~