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Program helps
men reach out in times of
stress, need
(November
2007 Issue)
By Jennifer Chase Esposito
Pop-culture has waxed poetic about the difference between men and
women going back to Adam and Eve. And though some are lighthearted
referrals to up-or-down toilet seats and the female predisposition
for shopping, men and women are fundamentally different, right down
to how they cope with stress.
But that simplistic view isn't what Michael Addis, Ph.D., wants
to promote about the Men's Coping Project, the research study he
initiated at Clark University that delves deep into understanding
the well-being of men and how they cope with stress in their lives.
"We've known for more than 30 years of previous research that men
are less likely to seek help than women," says Addis, a 12-year
professor and chair of the psychology department at Clark University
in Worcester, Mass. "In my trials, men display more shame associated
with seeking help and I've always wondered what it is about seeking
help that men find so difficult. I developed this intervention to
reduce the stigma and shame with depression, stress and dealing
with them."
Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Addis's two-year-long
program appears part research, part therapy, part self-help, as
he and his staff have helped some 70 men understand that reaching
out for help in times of great need is often the strongest choice
to make.
"Some men associate masculinity with extreme self-reliance and
that self-reliance is the mark of a good man," says Addis. Similarly,
he says, one of the hallmarks of masculinity is the male perception
of always being on top of things and in control; for many men, seeking
help and not figuring out a problem on their own is the antithesis
to being the Superman who gets it all done.
So Addis works toward dispelling the Superman myth, showing his
clients that reaching out, not in, is not as weak as they think.
And that, he says, is where his research and reaching out to his
clients gets interesting.
"Are there differences between treating men and women? Yes and
no," he says. On the one hand, on average, men are less likely to
seek help. But within the male gender there are tremendous variables.
Many men seek help for depression and anxiety. But many don't.
"Some men view the successful aspect of being a man, being in control.
So for some men, seeking medicine and therapy [for their depression]
helps them succeed at finding a workable solution toward getting
control.
"For others," Addis continues, "they view getting help as giving
up control. So the question of the individual difference between
men is a great separator."
Clients come to Addis most often through advertisements the program
places, asking men if they feel "stressed," as opposed to reaching
out to men who think they're "depressed."
A common phrase used to get to the heart of men's problems is asking
"how much private trouble on the inside" they're experiencing. "As
a culture, we don't talk about the inner lives of men - not on television,
not as boys," says Addis. "There's no language for it." And with
90 percent of violent crimes committed by men, there's strong evidence
for the need of a language and a way to tap into the hurt so many
men feel and can't express.
So the Men's Coping Project asks participants to fill out assessments
asking a number of questions whose answers give insight into their
personal perception of their stress and how they deal with it. During
interviews following the assessments, staff from the project provide
feedback to the men based on their answers in a "this is what we
learned from you," sort of way.
"For some men, this has no effect," says Addis, "and for others,
it's a transformation," as they learn more about the ways in which
they view their coping mechanisms.
"Understanding men's well-being helps researchers to see that men
do have inner emotional lives. They do want to talk about it, if
you can find a way to do it that's non-shaming."
At the end of the two-year run, Addis will present the results
of his program in a scientific journal that strives to help researchers,
clinicians, and laymen better understand what it really feels like
to be a man.
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