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Among its most conspicuous failures is this: therapy does a bad job treating men. A profession that has become overrun with females considers every patient to be a real or aspiring woman. Young female social workers tell men to get in touch with their feelings and to enhance their empathy.
The consequence: bad therapy results. And that merely counts those men who submit to the process. By now, enough men know that it is a waste of time, so they just do not go.
In more data-driven terms, men are 49% of the population, but 80% of the suicides. So said John MacGhlionn and he was surely correct to point this out. I have been writing about how therapy fails men for years now, so I am happy to discover that I have company.
The American Psychological Association succumbed to bias against men. MacGhlionn explains:
Unfortunately, not long after, the “sex is a construct” narrative started gaining traction, and the APA began denying that differences between the sexes actually exist.
Soon after, the APA decided to label qualities associated with traditional masculinity as “psychologically harmful.”
Having effectively turned its back on men, is it any wonder that the current system is so ill-equipped to help the men of America?
As for the difference between men and women, difference that escapes the ken of the APA, the answer lies in the fact that depressed men are looking for a way to function within the world. Women want to have their feelings validated.
In simpler terms, the relevant question for a man who is depressed because he is stymied by a problem is: What can we do about this? The relevant question for a woman is: how does this make you feel?
Perhaps this feels familiar. New York Times editorialist Michelle Cottle explained it well. This dates from my blog, on 7-22-23.
While women can maintain ties through conversation-heavy engagements, the experts say, men are better served by side-by-side bonding. That is, they participate in activities together, during which community and camaraderie are established. On occasion, between rounds of bocce or even rounds at the sports bar, the men may bring up how much they hate their boss or the results of their latest stress test. Behold! Male bonding in action.
Among the other problems in therapy world is the simple fact that therapy has become a pink ghetto. As MacGhlionn explains:
Sadly, there just aren’t enough male therapists to choose from.
Almost two-thirds of psychologists in the United States are female.
Eighty percent of clinical psychologists are female.
Some 75% of psychology graduate students are female.
This is one reason why therapy is failing men.
Female therapists do not understand men. They want men to feel loved and connected, but they leave men feeling loved and powerless, ineffectual.
