Psychiatric Training in Gender Specific Psychology and Goals for Women in Therapy^*

Abstract

A questionnaire addressing itself to the necessity of psychiatric training in gender specific issues and therapists' attitudes towards women in treatment was answered by almost half the total number of residents in psychiatric programs across Canada in the spring of 1980. Although the majority felt that training in gender specific psychology was a necessity, our survey indicated only a small proportion of Canadian programs (2 out of the 16 psychiatric schools) have incorporated this into their present curricula. An overview of the survey showed residents to agree with the following attitudes regarding women in therapy: 1) women's conflicts should be considered in the framework of their developmental life cycle and reproductive issues; 2) women do not present the same conflicts, goals and values as men; 3) therapy should help women to become more autonomous and assertive in the home and at work; and 4) women's primary goal should not necessarily be seen as that of caregivers and homemakers. Further, the residents expressed the beliefs that sex role ideology could interfere with therapy and that the "traditional hierarchy of power" should not be replicated between therapist and patient.

Sex-Role Reversal and Clinical Judgment of Mental Health

“…In other word: "Masculinity," in its traditional sense, in a man is still being perceived as a part of his mental health. This result is in accord with previous studies (Bowman, 1982;Brovermen et al, 1970;Marwit, 1981;Robertson & Fitzgerald, 1990;Swenson & Ragucci, 1984), which had hidden the research purpose from the subjects, but in contrast to the declared liberal attitudes of psychotherapists expressed in studies of sociopolitical attitudes (Henry et al, 1971;Rubinstein, 1994) and of professional attitudes (Cohen et al, 1983;Stark-Adamec et al, 1985), as well as to theoretical papers published by therapists themselves (Martin, 1982;Mintz, 1976). Finally, a limitation of the present study needs to be mentioned: It uses only one exemplar of a sex-role reversal, so we do not know if it would generalize to other exemplars.…”

“…The sample responded with a liberal orientation: Approximately 75% of the attitude items and 64% of the Downloaded by [North West University] at 14:38 21 December 2014 information items were scored at the liberal (attitude) end of the scale by at least half of the subjects (Stark-Adamec, Graham, & Adamec, 1985). Cohen, Saruk, Leichner, and Harper (1983) administered a questionnaire addressing itself to therapists' attitudes toward women in treatment and to the necessity of psychiatric training in gender-specific issues. The questionnaire was distributed to 199 residents in 16 psychiatric programs across Canada.…”