As a man (and a regular dude) in the field of psychology, I've been wondering about these things for years. I browse the Therapists sub on Reddit with morbid fascination as histrionic (oops) women flood the place with emotionally dysregulated posts about far left liberal politics, and watch them gladhand each other about how "cis men" are the problem and they would never want to work with them, and how "if only men didn't suppress their emotions, they'd be fine" - they want to treat men as women, just letting the emotions flow - despite the fact that women have higher rates of mood disorders and suicide attempts than men, which indicates that the female strategy of vomiting emotion all over the floor also might not be working.
I still haven't been able to put my finger on exactly how to describe the problem, but it is very, very clear that there is a problem. And even if one considers psychology a "soft" science, it's still science, and facts need to take precedence over emotion, but in this, psychology is failing horribly. I cancelled my membership with the ACA and APA because their entire focus has become social justice, when the actual focus should be on defending clinicians from absolutely absurd policies from insurance companies, and anything else that prevents us from keeping our doors open. If psychologists can't make a reasonable living, none of the social justice nonsense matters anymore.
I also teach psychology at the university level along with clinical work. 90% of my students are female, and 100% of my colleagues are female. So I don't see any revolution starting any time soon. It should be taken as a given, but I'll say it anyway - I have had some amazing female colleagues who go against all the stereotypes; they are the rare outliers and the exception. Broken and dysfunctional women have flooded this field.
Good points and there are certainly several factors at play. I think any correction will be coming from outside the field, but I think it's already in its beginning stages. When bad actors/crazy people steal from the credibility of an institution in order to push their own aims, it corrodes the institution itself. I think the public perception of the field (and the people inside of it making a mess of things far and wide) will lead to a correction. However, society doesn't typically correct--it overcorrects.
I second the problem of "Can't put my finger on it." I commented (perhaps unhelpfully) to a woman who openly says, when she found out her child was a boy, it was horror, somehow must be digested, processed somehow, as if a monster. This is extremely common, online so far as I can see, the norm. I pointed out this wasn't very helpful and most of the pop-psychology verbiage she used was basically entirely wrong. Men are nearly nothing as they are said to be. However, what can I offer? I didn't foresee myself having to collect notes for a book called "Your infant is not a monster" Subtitle: "Don't hate people different from you" at this time. They have 40 years of genius books to point at. I can read deeply valuable books from 1880-1940 but they will be handwaved, because Religion: Progress.
Kind of leaves me adrift since millions of lives are being ruined by this right now. Suicide rates have never been higher. I know they don't care that men/boy's are, but women/girls are too.
Absolutely fantastic analysis! this is something that I plan on writing about as well; another factor is that the majority of people in primary schools are women, and the majority of single-parent households are run by women. combine this with the issues in psychology, and you basically get a society where anything that's masculine is inherently seen as irregular/abnormal.
Glad you liked it. While the sex difference seems to be durable at the population level, I think the problem is best framed temperamentally. Unsophisticated agreeable people with disproportionate control over institutions of investigation and/or inculturation is what I think we're seeing. That, and the parasitism that those sorts of systems attract. We're saying the same thing, to an extent, but I think the technical specifics are useful. Interesting stuff.
There's the old joke about men building a cabin in the woods rather than going to therapy.
What if building a cabin in the woods is a form of therapy? Gets you away from your problems, gives you a sense of agency and accomplishment, and at the end of it, you have a cabin in the woods.
I think the mental health industry is feminized and we need more research on men. Two different people can experience the same thing and one will experience trauma and the other won't. But I don't think that is defined by gender. There are clear differences between men's lives & women's lives that may cause mental health issues. Mental health is not always the cause behind issues like suicide. Help seeking behaviours between men and women are also different. The way men talk about emotional difficulties and mental health can be different for men. But women misuse and amplify the use of therapy language to self victimize which shapes the therapy industry. This needs to change
Well they literally throw around the word "traumatized" referring to anything .. daily occurrences and difficulties . And then when men talk of physical, emotional, verbal or psychological abuse then they dismiss it saying it was just your feelings hurt and it's fragile masculinity.
Well, I read the APA Handbook (Do NOT do this) and as a layperson I can tell you if you're a straight white man and go to them, you're definitely going to die. I think in 36 pages I found 4 sentences that perhaps, accidentally, in passing, are applicable to your case.
What's more confounding is the straight psychosis in their presentation. However, they carefully keep this in the Meta-assumption realm, so it's difficult to quote and bring forward for discussion. Their Meta-reality is 1) that there is a huge, normal, average body of the population, undefined in any way but dissecting the sentences, that background foundation is white and male. 2) That group is entirely evil and everything they do is stupid and wrong because 3) There is no such thing as "Male" in any meaningful sense, as all human expressions are entirely equal, equally valid, equally useful, and equally able to be put on and discarded like the 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Therefore men also don't exist, and likewise white men don't exist, which is why they are everywhere, and evil. Evil is because all human expressions are equally valid, and none are better than any others, which is how I know they'll give me helpful advice about what I should do. "Do what thou wilt" is the whole of the psychological law.
...None of this is a surprise to anyone who's been conscious for the last 10 years. As completely expected, the field of psychology is the expression of the larger human society they live in, although in this case I propose that this language and belief is most probably FROM them, not accidentally rubbing off them them.
This being the case, I propose they undergo an immediate Mental Health Examination and be institutionalized as an acute danger to themselves and society.
In any case, I may have just solved the astonishing mystery of why men are reluctant to participate in mental health services. You're welcome.
Well, God's work, man. Reminds me of the Roman view that what is a Vice? It's an exaggerated Virtue. That is, moderation is the center of health, and moving to any extreme is probably disorder, seconded by the Buddha, who is also either religion, or psychology, your choice.
Great take on the agreeable trait. As a man in psychology, I’ve felt like I’m on an island if I tell a client I’m counseling that divorce is not trauma. If I mention that there is robust literature on emotional empathy being an evil entity, I get glared at like I just kicked a 3-legged cat. Telling the truth has become dangerous, at times.
Interesting enough when a hyphen is placed between the e and r in Therapist one gets: The Rapist. Whenever I have to deal with a female therapist I'm always extremely careful. Simply because the average female therapist in the field of psychology is either incompetent at best or a literal "Mind Rapist" at worst. And the
Individuals who end up suffering the most from their predatory depredations will be their male clients/patients.
As a man (and a regular dude) in the field of psychology, I've been wondering about these things for years. I browse the Therapists sub on Reddit with morbid fascination as histrionic (oops) women flood the place with emotionally dysregulated posts about far left liberal politics, and watch them gladhand each other about how "cis men" are the problem and they would never want to work with them, and how "if only men didn't suppress their emotions, they'd be fine" - they want to treat men as women, just letting the emotions flow - despite the fact that women have higher rates of mood disorders and suicide attempts than men, which indicates that the female strategy of vomiting emotion all over the floor also might not be working.
I still haven't been able to put my finger on exactly how to describe the problem, but it is very, very clear that there is a problem. And even if one considers psychology a "soft" science, it's still science, and facts need to take precedence over emotion, but in this, psychology is failing horribly. I cancelled my membership with the ACA and APA because their entire focus has become social justice, when the actual focus should be on defending clinicians from absolutely absurd policies from insurance companies, and anything else that prevents us from keeping our doors open. If psychologists can't make a reasonable living, none of the social justice nonsense matters anymore.
I also teach psychology at the university level along with clinical work. 90% of my students are female, and 100% of my colleagues are female. So I don't see any revolution starting any time soon. It should be taken as a given, but I'll say it anyway - I have had some amazing female colleagues who go against all the stereotypes; they are the rare outliers and the exception. Broken and dysfunctional women have flooded this field.
Good points and there are certainly several factors at play. I think any correction will be coming from outside the field, but I think it's already in its beginning stages. When bad actors/crazy people steal from the credibility of an institution in order to push their own aims, it corrodes the institution itself. I think the public perception of the field (and the people inside of it making a mess of things far and wide) will lead to a correction. However, society doesn't typically correct--it overcorrects.
I second the problem of "Can't put my finger on it." I commented (perhaps unhelpfully) to a woman who openly says, when she found out her child was a boy, it was horror, somehow must be digested, processed somehow, as if a monster. This is extremely common, online so far as I can see, the norm. I pointed out this wasn't very helpful and most of the pop-psychology verbiage she used was basically entirely wrong. Men are nearly nothing as they are said to be. However, what can I offer? I didn't foresee myself having to collect notes for a book called "Your infant is not a monster" Subtitle: "Don't hate people different from you" at this time. They have 40 years of genius books to point at. I can read deeply valuable books from 1880-1940 but they will be handwaved, because Religion: Progress.
Kind of leaves me adrift since millions of lives are being ruined by this right now. Suicide rates have never been higher. I know they don't care that men/boy's are, but women/girls are too.
Absolutely fantastic analysis! this is something that I plan on writing about as well; another factor is that the majority of people in primary schools are women, and the majority of single-parent households are run by women. combine this with the issues in psychology, and you basically get a society where anything that's masculine is inherently seen as irregular/abnormal.
Glad you liked it. While the sex difference seems to be durable at the population level, I think the problem is best framed temperamentally. Unsophisticated agreeable people with disproportionate control over institutions of investigation and/or inculturation is what I think we're seeing. That, and the parasitism that those sorts of systems attract. We're saying the same thing, to an extent, but I think the technical specifics are useful. Interesting stuff.
There's the old joke about men building a cabin in the woods rather than going to therapy.
What if building a cabin in the woods is a form of therapy? Gets you away from your problems, gives you a sense of agency and accomplishment, and at the end of it, you have a cabin in the woods.
I think the mental health industry is feminized and we need more research on men. Two different people can experience the same thing and one will experience trauma and the other won't. But I don't think that is defined by gender. There are clear differences between men's lives & women's lives that may cause mental health issues. Mental health is not always the cause behind issues like suicide. Help seeking behaviours between men and women are also different. The way men talk about emotional difficulties and mental health can be different for men. But women misuse and amplify the use of therapy language to self victimize which shapes the therapy industry. This needs to change
“ self victimize” = well put
Well they literally throw around the word "traumatized" referring to anything .. daily occurrences and difficulties . And then when men talk of physical, emotional, verbal or psychological abuse then they dismiss it saying it was just your feelings hurt and it's fragile masculinity.
Well, I read the APA Handbook (Do NOT do this) and as a layperson I can tell you if you're a straight white man and go to them, you're definitely going to die. I think in 36 pages I found 4 sentences that perhaps, accidentally, in passing, are applicable to your case.
What's more confounding is the straight psychosis in their presentation. However, they carefully keep this in the Meta-assumption realm, so it's difficult to quote and bring forward for discussion. Their Meta-reality is 1) that there is a huge, normal, average body of the population, undefined in any way but dissecting the sentences, that background foundation is white and male. 2) That group is entirely evil and everything they do is stupid and wrong because 3) There is no such thing as "Male" in any meaningful sense, as all human expressions are entirely equal, equally valid, equally useful, and equally able to be put on and discarded like the 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Therefore men also don't exist, and likewise white men don't exist, which is why they are everywhere, and evil. Evil is because all human expressions are equally valid, and none are better than any others, which is how I know they'll give me helpful advice about what I should do. "Do what thou wilt" is the whole of the psychological law.
...None of this is a surprise to anyone who's been conscious for the last 10 years. As completely expected, the field of psychology is the expression of the larger human society they live in, although in this case I propose that this language and belief is most probably FROM them, not accidentally rubbing off them them.
This being the case, I propose they undergo an immediate Mental Health Examination and be institutionalized as an acute danger to themselves and society.
In any case, I may have just solved the astonishing mystery of why men are reluctant to participate in mental health services. You're welcome.
Well, God's work, man. Reminds me of the Roman view that what is a Vice? It's an exaggerated Virtue. That is, moderation is the center of health, and moving to any extreme is probably disorder, seconded by the Buddha, who is also either religion, or psychology, your choice.
Great take on the agreeable trait. As a man in psychology, I’ve felt like I’m on an island if I tell a client I’m counseling that divorce is not trauma. If I mention that there is robust literature on emotional empathy being an evil entity, I get glared at like I just kicked a 3-legged cat. Telling the truth has become dangerous, at times.
“ what oft was thought, but neer so well expressed.” Bravo
Interesting enough when a hyphen is placed between the e and r in Therapist one gets: The Rapist. Whenever I have to deal with a female therapist I'm always extremely careful. Simply because the average female therapist in the field of psychology is either incompetent at best or a literal "Mind Rapist" at worst. And the
Individuals who end up suffering the most from their predatory depredations will be their male clients/patients.