carnes@gargoyle.UUCP (Richard Carnes) (03/29/86)
In article <129@proper.UUCP> barb@proper.UUCP (Barbara Petersen) writes: >In article <377@gargoyle.UUCP>, carnes@gargoyle.UUCP (Richard Carnes) writes: >> In my opinion, what a therapist does, fundamentally, is to help the >> patient forgive herself for being a human being and accept >> responsibility for her own life. > >Ummmm.... not to be difficult, but.... is there any reason you >specifically use 'her' in this sentence? Most patients in psychotherapy are female, I think by a large margin, and I believe most therapists are male, at least in the US. I think the preponderance of females in therapy is basically a result of male/female differences in socialization. Many or most men have been brought up to believe that real men tough things out without depending on the assistance of others, and have been taught to be ashamed of experiencing the emotions that women experience more freely. "Big boys don't cry." So it is likely that for many men, to recognize that they could use some help in solving their personal problems and to bare their soul to a therapist is perceived as a weak and unmanly thing to do. One may speculate that this male/female difference in socialization accounts for much of the difference between male and female rates of drug abuse, crime, suicide, and stress-related disorders. -- Richard Carnes, ihnp4!gargoyle!carnes