Abstract

Men are three times more likely to take their own lives than women are, and significantly less likely to seek mental health support. It could be that men don’t seek therapy because, compared to women, they prefer not to talk about their feelings. This raises important questions, such as: if therapy emphasised talking about feelings less, would men seek therapy more? And should we be trying to change men to fit therapy, or instead be trying to change therapy to fit men? Obviously, men and women are not totally different, and not all men are the same but the value of investigating, developing and testing new therapy models to better help men and boys would seem vital and self-evident. This chapter assesses the latest available literature on male-friendly therapies, including everyday activities that increase well-being. It includes not only two recent reviews of this topic, but also five highly relevant papers not included in those reviews. In this chapter we make specific suggestions that can be tailored to most types of intervention, making interventions more male-friendly.