| Abstract: | Argues that male survivors of childhood abuse typically suffer from the interacting legacies of the abuse and of their gender socialization. The experience of vulnerability and helplessness that makes up part of the core of the abuse experience violates the fundamental tenets of masculinity as it has been culturally elaborated. Therefore, psychotherapy with male survivors should include an active critique of traditional gender socialization. The goal of this aspect of treatment is to provide the survivor with the tools he needs to understand how his gender socialization may be exacerbating his abuse-related symptoms and obstructing his process of recovery. Treatment should include psychoeducation and reframing in order to gradually redefine rigid masculinity as patently unheroic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
