In response to calls for much needed research on the relation between gender role conflict and therapy or counselling this study examined the relation between gender role conflict and the types of therapy that men prefer for the treatment of depression, comparing men scoring high and low on the gender role conflict scale. The study also examined whether exposure of men reporting high or low gender role conflict to either emotion-focused or thought-focused therapy through the use of a counselling video influences subsequent preference for type of therapy, and the role of coping as a mediator in the relationship between gender role conflict and therapy preference. Furthermore, the study examined traditional men's perspectives on therapy focussing in particular on issues inherent in living with the experience of depression: coping with depression, seeking help for depression, and the barriers to seeking help. The central aim of the thesis was to examine how to make psychological services more appealing to men who have experienced depression. Overall the current research revealed insights into men's experience of depression, their therapy preferences, their coping strategies, the physical and psychosocial barriers that deter them from seeking help, and many practical suggestions for possible interventions to help men cross the barriers and open up. It is concluded that understanding the traditional men, their socialisation and its impact on depression, on the man's help-seeking behaviour and attitudes, is certainly needed to assist in meeting the needs of men and to influence the transformation of traditional men.
Date of Award | 2006 |
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Original language | English |
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- depression in men
- depression therapy
- gender role conflict
Masculinity and depression : men's subjective experience of depression, coping and preferences for therapy and gender role conflict
Batty, Z. (Author). 2006
Western Sydney University thesis: Doctoral thesis