1st Edition

Gender in the Therapy Hour Voices of Female Clinicians Working with Men

Edited By Holly Barlow Sweet Copyright 2012
    332 Pages
    by Routledge

    336 Pages
    by Routledge

    There is no shortage of literature about working with men in counseling and psychotherapy, but almost none of it addresses the unique issues that a female clinician can face with a male client. These women do not have a basis for a complete understanding of the impact our society’s ideas about gender can have on a man, his masculinity, and his feelings toward talk therapy, in part because they are not men themselves. The contributors to this book, all female clinicians who have worked extensively with men, have set out to provide their female peers with a guide for therapeutically engaging and helping men. Chapters explore how each author became involved in men’s issues, case studies and examples from her own practice that illustrate her approach, and her own assessment of what works best with male clients. Topics considered include core treatment issues, such as transference and counter-transference, beginning and ending therapy with men, and ethical dilemmas; working in different therapy modalities; and doing therapy with diverse populations of men. The book concludes with an edited transcript of a discussion amongst the authors about their personal experiences working with male clients. This will be an important book for all female therapists who work with male clients and are looking for ways to better understand and tailor their approaches to meet the needs of men in therapy.

    Part I: Overview. Sweet, Women Working with Men: Opportunities and Challenges. Part II: Core Treatment Issues. Martin, Starting and Ending Psychotherapy with Men.  Logue, Transference, Counter-transference, and Men: A Psychoanalytic Perspective. Vasquez, Ethical Considerations in Working with Men. Part III: Different Modalities of Therapy. Nutt, Couples Counseling. Morse, Practicing Gender-aware Therapy: A New Clinician's Perspective. Steigmeier, Coaching Men. Part IV: Different Populations of Clients. de las Fuentes, Working with Men of Color: Conversations with the Other Side of Me. Sweet, Therapy with Depressed Men. Oren, Counseling Fathers: It's a Slam Dunk. Harway, Understanding Men's Issues: Assessing and Treating Men who Abuse. Newlin, Working with Traditional Men in the Military. Wilbur, Psychotherapy with Older Men. Part IV: Sharing Our Stories. Voices Together: A Conversation Among the Book's Authors. Rabinowitz, Afterword.

    Biography

    Holly Barlow Sweet, PhD, is a licensed psychologist in private practice and co-founder and co-director of the Cambridge Center for Gender Relations.

    "Gender in the Therapy Hour: Voices of Female Clinicians Working with Men, edited by Sweet, fits well within the literature on counseling men yet also provides a fresh unique perspective." – Sex Roles

    "Gender in the Therapy Hour is a very timely book. Most graduate students and young clinicians in the mental health fields today are women. Like my supervisees, they are thirsting for guidance on how to work with their male clients, and finding few resources. This book will satisfy that thirst." - Ronald F. Levant, EdD, ABPP, 2005 President, the American Psychological Association; Professor of Psychology, the University of Akron

    "Every once in a while a book for clinicians comes along that makes me wonder why nobody has written it before. Dr. Sweet’s compilation of the voices of savvy and respected female therapists (and one token male!) addresses the issues of women treating men in outstanding fashion. A must read for all clinicians, male and female alike!" - David B. Wexler, PhD, Executive Director, Relationship Training Institute, San Diego CA