18 July 2012
What About Me(n)?
With all that has been written, advocated, or spoken about lately with respect to “mental health awareness”, it occurred to me how, perhaps in spite of its intentions, the message may be missing it’s mark. And by “mark”, I mean men.
When I look at the public service announcements, take for instance Bell Canada’s “Let’s Talk” campaign (featuring Olympian Clara Hughes), or consider the large percentage of women who both practice psychotherapy or who see a therapist, I have to speculate, in the mind of the average “guy” standing on the outskirts of all this information, two assumptions might be poking about:
1. Therapy is for women.
2. If therapy is for men, it’s not speaking my language.
First, it goes without saying that therapy is for everyone. Yet, it’s one thing to throw around phrases like “therapy is for everyone”, quite another to show how therapy can benefit everyone, particularly those portions – of which men largely consist – who historically have not embraced talk therapy as passionately as you would assume from movies and TV depictions.
This leads us to the second point: language.
I do believe that the language – heck, even the imagery – we use to raise awareness of mental health perhaps does not yet speak clearly to a wide variety of people. Within the context of this blog post, I’m thinking specifically of men who may not be feel comfortable speaking openly with others about their feelings or conflicts – it is specifically this category of people, I feel, who still struggle in silence.
There is definitely a place for men in talk therapy. Therapists such as myself are here for you, male or female, straight or gay, young or old, even if at first it takes time for you to become comfortable talking about your concerns.
If you are interested in learning more about my services, about me, or perhaps booking an appointment, please call me at 416-873-7828 or email me at info@downtowntherapy.ca for more information.
filed under: general info• men• psychotherapy
4 July 2012
Are There Different Styles of Psychotherapy?
Short answer: yes.
Long answer…
…it’s sort of like martial arts. There’s karate and kung-fu, and aikido, and tae kwon do (to name a few). And yet there are streams of karate which may incorporate, say, judo. There are streams of kung-fu which also focus on tai chi chuan.
Similarly, with psychotherapy – whether the practitioner is a psychotherapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist – there are disciplines, called modalities. Here are a few, to give you an idea:
Freudian/Jungian: Freudian psychoanalysis is a scientifically-leaning attempt to understand the human mind using the idea of drives as a motivating factor in human psychological development. The Jungian approach is a split-off from Freudian psychoanalysis, much more accepting of the spiritual (and sometimes mystical) facets of human belief and how they inform our psychological development.
The traditional Freudian and Jungian approaches are known as one-person psychology: there may be two people in the therapeutic space, but only the analyst (as opposed to the client) is in control. The client associates, the analyst interprets. The analyst is the sole expert.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (aka CBT) is a rational approach. It tends to focus on very specific problems with the client, as opposed to allowing for deeper (less clear) problems to come to the surface. A CBT practitioner will typically structure a fixed number of sessions with a client, with the idea being that by the last session, whatever is ailing with the client will be worked out, not unlike a muscle. This may be handy for isolated problems, such as helping to quit smoking, or perhaps some forms of anger management.
Relational Psychotherapy: Relational Psychotherapy is a newer, dynamic form of therapy. Unlike Freudian/Jungian approaches, it is a two-person psychology: there is mutuality between the therapist and the client, and the structure is such that the therapist is not positioned as an all-knowing expert who controls the kite strings. This leads to greater, fuller communication between therapist and client.
The general idea behind Relational Psychotherapy is that interpersonal relationships are a foundation of how we are raised, how we develop, and how we see ourselves at the end of the day. The focus is on the present, the here-and-now with the understanding that, while relevant events of the past are welcomed into the therapeutic space, it’s how the client feels now which is what’s ultimately important. Unlike CBT, Relational Psychotherapy is not hyper-focused on fixing isolated problems, since some problems which may seem isolated may have deeper roots in our behaviour.
If you are interested in learning more about my services, about me, or perhaps booking an appointment, please call me at 416-873-7828 or email me at info@downtowntherapy.ca for more information.
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