Men’s Mental Health Services: The Case for a Masculinities Model

Abstract

It is well understood that men are reticent in seeking help for mental health concerns. In the wake of government-funded campaigns across many Western nations that have sought to address this, noticeably absent have been the active development, promotion, dissemination, and rigorous evaluation of male-centered treatment styles. We argue that next-generation approaches must actively counteract unhelpful stereotypes, instead promoting diverse and healthy masculinities. The current article makes the case for the development of a masculinities model of mental health care, offering recommendations to advance clinical practice and research toward this goal. We propose that updated help-seeking campaigns and clinician training, gender-sensitive service provision, and comprehensive cost analyses will provide the groundwork for such a model to better target the diversity in men and reduce any reluctance to engage with mental health treatment.

‘Men just drink more than women. Women have friends to talk to’—Gendered understandings of depression among healthcare professionals and their implications

“…Using this ICD or the DSM definition of depression, a body of gender studies has pointed out that depression is often viewed as the direct opposite of a relatively unwavering view of masculinity across Western societies (Seidler, Dawes, Rice, Oliffe, & Dhillon, 2016;Seidler, Rice, River, Oliffe, & Dhillon, 2017). As the ICD-10 is used to classify depression in Denmark, the formal signification of the category of depression bears resemblance to dominant forms of femininity in Denmark (Oute & Huniche, 2017).…”

Men In and Out of Treatment for Depression: Strategies for Improved Engagement

“…Contrasting this, other research focused on within‐group differences and diversity among men, and an understanding that masculinity is context dependent and can emerge in seemingly contradictory ways (i.e., masculinities vs masculinity). This more nuanced frame suggests tailored, strength‐based, and gender‐sensitive approaches to service delivery may improve retention, engagement, and treatment outcomes (Johnson et al, ; River, ; Seidler, Rice, River, Oliffe, & Dhillon, ). Recent scholarship has promoted adaptation in our approach to viewing masculinities with far‐reaching ramifications for mental health approaches, learning to respond to each man's unique, complex, and evolving stratification of masculinities.…”

“…Long‐standing expectations for ethical psychological treatment imply tailoring treatment to address client needs (Norcross & Beutler, ). In attributing non‐engagement or dropout in to their alignment to masculine norms, clinicians, and services are circumventing their responsibility to provide engaging and tailored treatment and relying on fixed, narrow conceptualisations of masculinity (Bedi & Richards, ; Seidler et al, ). When actively engaged in psychological treatment, men show high rates of positive outcomes, reinforcing the importance of investigating the style and elements of treatments men who experience depression find engaging (Bedi & Richards, ; Ogrodniczuk, ).…”

Men’s experiences of engaging in psychological therapy in a forensic mental health setting

“…Likewise, men's multiple masculine-selves will no doubt be expressed differently under different circumstances . The diversity of masculinities is well-established in the literature, as not all men will align with hegemonic masculine principles (Seidler et al, 2018). This was evident in the sample of men who took part in the study, whereas some were more comfortable opening up and sharing their difficulties others remained guarded and at a distance.…”