Men Are Shrinking From Psychology, Turning To Pills

Men are less willing to talk to a female therapist about “man things,” but have found that a good male therapist is somewhat hard to come by. Does the sex of the doctor matter?

Many studies on the feminization of therapy have found that psychological professions have become more and more dominated by women, starting largely in the 1970s. A large part of this can be seen as a “mother instinct” type of reasoning.

Psychology has become a feminine career largely because women are more comfortable or interested in curing through discussion, not pills. Because of this, psychiatry (the pill-prescribing medical mental profession) is far more male-dominated. This should be no surprise because from they day they are born, girls are taught to express their emotions and boys are taught to suppress them.

Many men believe it is easier to express themselves to someone of their own sex. When it comes to aggression, fatherhood, sexuality, and other male-specific issues, they often find themselves more comfortable discussing it with a man. They want to discuss it with someone who gets it.

So what do men do when they need to talk? Some may search for a male therapist and eventually settle with a female. But are we really so bad?

I have experienced the other side of the coin. When I was battling my own mental issues, saw a male therapist. At times, the gender difference was obvious and difficult, but he understood my emotions completely, even if he had never felt them himself. He was never bulimic or anorexic, but he had seen hundreds of clients who were and had insecurities of his own.

We may not understand the male brain and emotions as efficiently as a fellow man, but there are plenty of ways to gain this understanding, either through counseling, studying, or personal experience. Believe it or not, men and women’s emotions are not so incredibly different. Anxiety feels the same, whether it is happening in a male or female brain. Sure, there are a few differences when it comes to, say, aggression, but it is nothing that a good therapist wouldn’t be able to tackle.

No one wouldn’t refuse medical treatment based on the sex of their doctor, so why do the same in this field?

Contact the author here: crazycolleen@morningquickie.com