Working With Troubled Men

A Contemporary Practitioner's Guide

This book offers a concise, readable, research-grounded synthesis of the special concerns mental health and other helping professionals need to address when working with men today, and explains a wealth of effective gender-specific approaches to assessment and intervention that result in more successful outcomes for male clients.

Many more women than men seek counseling and therapy, and to some extent standard services have evolved in response to female styles of communicating and problem-solving. Practitioners frequently feel frustrated and baffled by their male clients because they seem unresponsive to treatment approaches that work so well for women. But many men benefit from therapy when practitioners understand male socialization and the ways men communicate and problem-solve.

Too many men today are doing badly and are in real need of help. Almost half of America's male children grow up in single parent homes headed by mothers, where they seldom have male mentors or role models. Fewer men than women attend or graduate from college, and increasing levels of binge drinking and date rape on campuses paint a discouraging picture of men on campus. Male violence continues to be a serious problem in many American communities, with male youth violence continuing at epidemic levels. Men die younger than women overall and in much higher proportions from suicide, homicide, and cirrhosis of the liver.