Search results for ""author ronald f. levant""

A ground-breaking guide that provides men with tools to improve their mental health and well-being.Masculinity requires a redesign. Men exhibit higher rates of suicide, lower rates of help-seeking, higher rates of substance use and abuse, and higher rates of anger and violence. How can this change? In Man Kind, counseling psychologist Zachary Gerdes, PhD, provides a framework for improving men's mental health and well-being while redefining what it means to be masculine. Rather than following a traditional view of masculinity focused on stoicism, patriarchy, and self-reliance, Gerdes provides his LIFT model—a road map to help men foster collaboration, understand when and how to utilize resources, and build mental resilience and flexibility.In this empowering book, Gerdes:• helps men understand their thoughts and behaviors from a psychological perspective • provides steps to help men change behaviors that are detrimental to their health and relationships• outlines a model for healthy masculinity that incorporates psychological and relational practices for improving well-being • includes strategies for improving cognitive insight, elevating emotionality, reinvigorating relationships, and overcoming oppression and oppressiveness• illustrates how certain behaviors are not necessarily "masculine" but merely the result of social conditioning• explains the latest psychological and social science research on gender identity and masculinity to provide a scientific foundation for improving men's mental health • operates on the Leverage, Insight, Freedom, Truth (LIFT) model, which Gerdes developed as an intervention to improve various health outcomes in menMan Kind provides men with the tools they need to improve their mental health and well-being.

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"From childhood onward, men appear to be at risk. Infant males aremore likely to undergo complications during labor and delivery andto have more birth defects. Boys often manifest behavioraldifficulties and learning disabilities in elementary school. Byeighth grade, boys are only half as likely as girls to aspire to bea professional or career person; boys are nine times more likely tosuffer from hyperactivity and more than twice as likely to besuspended from school. Men are less likely to attend college and/orgraduate school than women. Compared to young women, young men arefour times more likely to be victims of homicide and five timesmore likely to kill themselves. "Men suffer under a code of masculinity that requires them to be:aggressive, dominant, achievement oriented, competitive, rigidlyself-sufficient, adventure seeking, willing to take risks,emotionally restricted, and constituted to avoid all thingsperceived as 'feminine.' Such a code is bound to take a toll onmen's longevity. The average life expectancy for males in theUnited States is seven years shorter than that for women.Traditional male role traits inhibit men from seeking medical helpin the early stages of disease and from being sufficiently attunedto their own internal processes to detect early warnings ofillness." --from the Introduction. Slowly, the truth emerges. In a society in which men are expectedto be strong, independent, aggressive, and impervious to emotionalstress, boys are nine times more likely than girls to suffer fromhyperactivity, young men are five times more likely to commitsuicide than young women, and men have far higher rates ofsubstance abuse and antisocial personality disorder than women.Clearly, many men are in need of psychological treatment andpsychotherapy. Ironically, however, the very qualities that areresponsible for many of their emotional and behavioral difficultiesmake it much more difficult for men to admit they have problems,seek professional help, or have faith in the efficacy oftreatment. In New Psychotherapy for Men, leading figures in the field of men'spsychology explore the psychological sources of men's emotionaldifficulties and offer specific techniques to help therapistsovercome men's resistance to therapy. With the help of full-lengthcase studies, they trace the sources of emotional and psychologicaldisturbances in men and present new models for assessing andtreating men's unique emotional difficulties. This book illuminatesthe unhealthy aspects of masculinity through the lens of genderrole strain, creating state-of-the-art, gender-specific treatmentsfor men. Major issues addressed in New Psychotherapy for Men include: * Reluctant men in couples therapy * Group therapy for traditional men * Gender role strain in the family system * Recognizing and treating depression in men * Men's shame and trauma in therapy * Gender role strain as a factor in male impotence * Treating male violence * Helping men find a voice for their feelings * Adapting psychodynamic therapy for men. This book also takes a multicultural perspective, discussing thespecial problems of anger and stress experienced by AfricanAmerican men, psychotherapy for gay men, and the difficulties thatcan arise when a female therapist treats a male patient. Groundbreaking, broad in scope, and infused with countlesspractical suggestions, New Psychotherapy for Men is anextraordinarily helpful guide for all mental health professionalswho deal with men. It is also an excellent graduate-level text,offering today's students a rich, fully developed body of newknowledge with which to begin their careers.

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Decades ago, the emergence of feminist psychology upended the old order by redefining sex and gender. Soon thereafter, scholars such as Ron Levant recognized the importance of doing a similar critical analysis of men. Now, years later, the psychology of men and masculinities is a thriving, growing field illuminating the impact of sex and gender on the lives of men. This highly anticipated volume shows how far the field has advanced and what directions it is taking. It explains and evaluates major theories, research, and applications, with an emphasis on the gender role strain paradigm, which is an empirical, feminist, and social constructionist approach that is based primarily in psychology and that relies largely on quantitative research. The chapters also synthesize research on men’s mental and physical health, including depression, help-seeking, stigma, body image, and the physical health effects of masculinity. Special attention is given to ethnic, racial, and sexual minority men. Finally, the book surveys the growing body of work on therapeutic and preventive interventions for men, as well as programs aimed at men’s violence, substance use, and lack of self-care. With such broad and inclusive coverage, this volume will be a standard reference for researchers and practitioners in this field and an essential part of university courses on men and masculinities.

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