EAST WEST PSYCHOTHERAPY & COUNSELLING - for East Devon, West Dorset & South Somerset - by Skype, FaceTime & Phone Worldwide

Counselling for Men

As men, we have had thousands of years of genetic programming & a lifetime of our cultures telling us that we are a certain kind of entity - often that we are invulnerable & invincible, that nothing bad's going to happen to us and that those we love will never die. It's also easier to think that we're in complete control - we don't need anybody to love or to love us and, if someone is close to us, we're somehow in complete control of them. We tend to follow this male stereotype propaganda, because the converse is frightening - that we and those we love will certainly die, that we are vulnerable and needy and that we sometimes cry.

Consequences

As a consequence of the mentality described above; -We tend to become less in touch with our feelings - finding it perhaps difficult to know if we are in danger or perhaps finding it difficult to appreciate moments of joy.

What are the alternatives?

This masculine stereotype has advantages & disadvantages and has had a mixed press in recent years - mostly negative. But, what are the alternatives? It's quite difficult finding an emotionally intelligent masculine way of being. A man who is assertive can so easily be characterised as being, " a pushy male". A soft and gentle male easily gets labelled as a wimp and is sometimes bullied in the workplace or at school. This is one of the reasons why it can sometimes be more difficult for a man or a boy to be highly sensitive than it is for a woman. There is probably no easy way to be an emotionally intelligent man, especially if we've suffered some trauma in childhood.
Perhaps it's best for each one of us to search amidst the male & female aspects of our inner world and gradually allow our own variety of male identity to emerge. I have a long and wide ranging experience of working with difficulties pertinent to men in my work in the NHS, privately and in the voluntary sector. I offer Jungian psychoanalytic therapy in person walking in the open air in Seaton, Devon. I also work online for anywhere in the world.

Michael Friedrich