Part 2: The future of gender-based health care
In Part 1, I discussed some of my own challenges as a health professional working in the field for over fifty years. I also described the challenges facing healthcare providers today and why so many are leaving the profession. I introduced you to the importance of the emerging field of Gender-Specific Medicine and its founder, Dr. Marianne J. Legato.
Me recently interviewed by Dr. Legato for my MenAlive podcast. He discussed the evolution of the field of gender-specific medicine, which began with a focus on women’s unmet medical needs and is now increasingly addressing men’s health needs. She says,
“The premature death of men is the most important – and neglected – health issue of our time.”
For Dr. Legato, her passion for gender-based medicine is personal, not just professional.
“My doctor father demonstrated many of the biological and social dangers of being male. My mother outlived him by a decade, mourning his absence every day.”
In her book, Why Men Die First: How To Extend Your Lifespan, she says,
“My father’s lifestyle was not conducive to a long and healthy life. He had what I thought was the quintessentially masculine nature:
He worked with amazing perseverance at his profession and never asked anyone for help or complained about the burdens placed on him. He took unnecessary risks, asked no one for advice or counsel, smoked three packs of Philip Morris cigarettes a day, ate massive amounts of pasta, oiled vegetables and rich Italian pastries, and often ended his long day with a generous helping of Scotch on the rocks in one of the beautiful crystal glasses he preferred.’
She concludes,
“Everything was needed. He was often desperate and had outbursts of anger that were the result of what I now believe was chronic depression. I think he would find the idea of entrusting any of his matters to a psychiatrist unthinkable, much less taking medication for his all-too-frequent bouts of depression.’
This could very well have been my story and I feel grateful that I was able to break out of my denial. My wife helped, but so did another health care provider, Kay Redfield Jamison. Dr. Jamison is one of the world’s leading experts on depression and bipolar disorder and wrote the definitive text. In her book, An Unquiet Mind: Memoir of Moods and Madness, reveals her own struggles with mood disorders.
When I read her story, especially the following words describing her own situation, which mirrored mine exactly, I knew I had found a kindred spirit.
“Others imply that they know what it’s like to be depressed because they’ve been through a divorce, lost a job or broken up with someone. But these experiences carry with them emotions. Depression, by contrast, is flat, hollow and unbearable. It’s also tiring. People can’t stand to be around you when you’re depressed. They may think they should, and they may even try, but you know and they know you’re boring beyond belief.”
He ends with these words that still resonate with me many years after successfully completing the treatment:
“You’re irritable and paranoid and humorless and soulless and judgmental and demanding and no affirmation is ever enough. You’re afraid, and you’re scared, and you’re not at all like yourself, but you will be soon, but you know you won’t.
I feel blessed to have gotten the help I needed, even when I resisted getting it. Things is change, lead both my men and women to recognize that men’s and women’s health problems cannot be separated and must be achieved together. One man who has been a leading voice and advocate for men and boys in the world is Gary Barker, founder of Promundo.
In a TED talk in October 2023, “A reframing of masculinity, rooted in empathy,” she says violence in the world is a male problem, but it’s a problem that needs to change.
“We are the most wired species on the planet. Our neurological systems, our hormonal systems, are wired to care, to nurture, to love, to bond with others. But it’s not automatic. If you don’t use it, if you close it, if you hide, you’re not doing it any good. But if you try and if you practice and if you learn it, you will get good at it. Even the man who seems most detached from the world can learn it.”
Another man who is breaking new ground is Richard V. Reeves. I was sent an advance copy of his book, Boys and Men: Why the Modern Man Struggles, Why It Matters, and What We Should Do About It.
I interviewed Reeves and learned that he had a strong interest in gender-based therapy and men’s health.
“I’ve been concerned about boys and men for 25 years”
He says.
“It became clear to me that the problems of boys and men are structural in nature, rather than individual. but they are rarely treated as such. The problem with men are usually framed as a problem of men. It is men who must be corrected, one man or boy at a time. This individualistic approach is wrong.”
Reeves recently founded the American Institute on Boys and Men (AIBM).
“Too many boys and men are struggling – at school, at work and in their families and communities.”
says Reeves.
“The American Institute on Boys and Men is the first national organization committed to objective research and policy development to enhance the well-being of boys and men.
In a recent article published by AIBM, “Where the Men Are: The Representation of Men in Social Work and Psychology”, they say
“Mental health needs are pervasive in men, yet the proportion of men meeting these needs in mental health professions is low and falling. Basic foods include:
- Men represent only 18% of social workers and 20% of psychologists. The lack of men is particularly pronounced in subfields such as child and school psychology.
- Male representation in these mental health professions has halved in recent decades, from a male share of 38% in social work and 68% in psychology in 1968. [the year I graduated from U.C. Berkeley].
- This downward trend looks set to continue: men’s share of accepted master’s degrees and above is 20% in psychology and 12% in social work, and men in psychology are on average larger than women.
- Men are less likely to seek mental health support: in 2022, 27% of women spoke to a mental health professional or took medication for anxiety or depression compared to just 16% of men.
We need more male health professionals and we need more men who are trained to understand gendered medicine and health care. I will be offering a series of courses later this year to address these needs. In a recent article “Calling All Men: Are You Ready to Get Healthy in Body, Mind and Spirit in 2024?”, I outline what I have to offer.
If you are interested in learning more, please email me at Jed@Menalive.com. Put “Men’s Courses” in the subject line.
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In Part 3 of the series, I will discuss additional healing tools that healthcare professionals should be aware of in order to improve their own health and well-being as well as those we serve.
