Men’s Issues

Why do men need mental health therapy?

Men are less likely than women to disclose mental health issues to friends and family and far less likely to seek help for such problems. This reluctance is despite the fact that the prevalence rates for many psychological disorders are either the same between genders or greater for men.

From a young age, many boys are taught traditional, rigid, or toxic masculinity: being “strong” and ignoring and minimizing emotion. This avoidance can develop into an atrophying of the skills needed to recognize and effectively and healthily navigate emotional situations. In place of regulating their emotions and behaviors, these men can feel marginalized, isolated, irritated, anxious, and depressed. Further, they tend to behave more irrationally and impulsively and experience physical disease and illness such as high blood pressure and heart disease at higher frequencies. These emotional, behavioral, and physiological consequences often feel preferable to opening themselves up to the stigma of seeking therapy as a man.

Evidence-based therapy for men

There are also men’s issues that most men, particularly young men, do not feel comfortable discussing with friends or family members. These issues include sexual performance or identity matters that can significantly impact the many other arenas of a young man’s life. In our experience, these men develop the early strategy or wishing these issues away or telling themselves that time will prove the most effective remedy only to learn that the issue is not going away. When we communicate that there are evidenced-based forms of treatment for these challenges that can offer long-term positive outcomes to these men and then actualize these goals, it is incredibly fulfilling to see the young man return to his life with bolstered confidence and a renewed sense of agency.

Please contact us if this information speaks to your or a loved one’s experience. I hope that together we can not only improve your overall health and wellbeing but also work toward exercising an openness to receive help and support as a man in the modern world.

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