Editor’s Note: This month, that is September 2020, FII’s #MoodOfTheMonth is Boys, Men and Masculinities, where we invite various articles to highlight the different experiences of masculinity that manifest themselves in our everyday lives and have either challenged, subverted or even perpetuated traditional forms of ‘manliness’. If you’d like to share your article, email us at pragya@feminisminindia.com.
“The fact that men experience significant mental health problems should not be surprising; men are human beings, and human beings often experience problems in living,” read a statement in a research paper on feminist therapy for men. When presented with this statement, the idea that men need mental health support is easy enough to understand. Unfortunately, global discrepancies in outcomes such as death by suicide, indicate that the statement does not translate into utilisation and practice of mental health services.
Getting to the Therapist’s Office
When identifying gaps in professional mental health support, factors rightly highlighted include accessibility (availability of qualified professionals, affordability of services, etc.) and cultural acceptance or stigmatisation of mental health. Gender is an additional factor which affects whether a person may end up reaching out to a mental health professional or even their social support networks. Prevailing gender norms and “scripts” of masculinity may play a significant role in not just creating and maintaining a presenting problem (i.e., the issue that brings someone to therapy), but also in avoidance of seeking help needed to cope with it. Men have been found to seek less help for mental health concerns, because the compulsion felt to adhere to norms and scripts may end up imposing limits on their choice and ability to express themselves.
Men have been found to seek less help for mental health concerns, because the compulsion felt to adhere to norms and scripts may end up imposing limits on their choice and ability to express themselves.
Why is Feminist Therapy Suitable for Men?
A look back at the early decades of psychology would suggest that some theories and models of counselling and psychotherapy may have been androcentric in their origins. Many prominent therapists themselves and the people they studied through clinical practice or research were men. This led to development of approaches which, in the process of addressing the needs identified by research and practice, became androcentric themselves. However, their application in therapy with men is also starting to be questioned now because their narrow definitions of “normal masculinity” do not capture all individuals identifying as men.
Because of its origins in women’s rights movements, feminist therapy has been associated with women clients and therapists. But its focus on intersecting identities, relational factors, ecological systems, and social constructionism, enables work with and by individuals with different gender identities. Feminist therapy allows for psychoeducation and reflection on gender and concepts associated with it, to better understand a presenting problem as well as deeper beliefs.