Dr John Barry’s Blog
Ethics, ideology and the APA
At last, the twelfth blog in the series The 12 blogs of Christmas based on the Psychreg Journal of Psychology (PJP) special issue on male psychology. The American Psychological Association (APA) produced guidelines in late 2018 on how to conduct therapy with boys and men. Some parts of the guidelines are, in my opinion, welcome (Guideline 9 has lots of good advice), but other parts of the guidelines were perplexingly ideological and caused a wave of critical reaction, including my own blog.
The impact of gender politics on therapy
This is the eleventh blog in the series The 12 blogs of Christmas based on the Psychreg Journal of Psychology (PJP) special issue on male psychology. People go to therapy usually because they feel distressed and are seeking professional advice from someone who is skilled in therapy and will care about their feelings.
Bias in how we celebrate gender-typical behaviour
This is the tenth blog in the series The 12 blogs of Christmas based on the Psychreg Journal of Psychology (PJP) special issue on male psychology. In 1966 The Beatles began recording their classic album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band at the iconic Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Studios). The 1960s was an experimental era of ‘anything goes’ and psychedelic drugs like LSD.
The relevance of male psychology to modern South Africa
This is the ninth blog in the series The 12 blogs of Christmas based on the Psychreg Journal of Psychology (PJP) special issue on male psychology. Given generations of trauma in South Africa, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) set up a psychology degree which equipped graduates with practical counselling skills based on contemporary Western ideas. Sounds like a fantastic idea, so what could possibly go wrong?
Sexism against men in global institutions
This is the eighth blog in the series The 12 blogs of Christmas based on the Psychreg Journal of Psychology (PJP) special issue on male psychology. The eighth blog in this series will come as quite a revelation to many people.
Men and women are expected to take more responsibility for their problems, but mainly when the problem is gender-typical
This is the seventh blog in the series The 12 blogs of Christmas based on the Psychreg Journal of Psychology (PJP) special issue on male psychology. Today’s blog explores the question of whether we attribute responsibility differently for men and women.
Do women favour women more than men favour men?
This is the sixth blog in the series The 12 blogs of Christmas based on the Psychreg Journal of Psychology (PJP) special issue on male psychology. Today’s blog is one of the most creative of the PJP special issue. PhD candidate Nathan Hook conducted an experiment involving a hypertext game based on a fictional story about Arthurian knight on a mythical quest.
Male broodiness – is there such a thing?
This is the fifth blog in the series The 12 blogs of Christmas based on the Psychreg Journal of Psychology special issue on male psychology. Yesterday’s blog demonstrated that one of the greatest sources of pain for men was not being allowed to see their children.
The psychological impact on separated dads of restrictions on seeing their children
This is the fourth blog in the series The 12 blogs of Christmas. Yesterday’s blog showed the impact of domestic abuse risk on separated fathers. Todays blog highlights a deeply personal hurt that many separated dads experience – restrictions on seeing their children.
The impact of domestic abuse on separated fathers
This is the third blog in the series The 12 blogs of Christmas. It is still fairly common for people to think that men are rarely the victims of domestic abuse, or that if they are then it is relatively harmless, even comical. However the reality is very different, as shown by Dr Richard Bradford’s study of 220 post-separation fathers.
How writing can help reduce trauma in men
This is the second blog in the series The 12 blogs of Christmas. “On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me, two turtle doves”. It is easy to see that some of the greatest novels – like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – are said to have been some of the greatest acts of catharsis for their authors.
What makes men happy?
This is the first blog (after the intro) in the series The 12 blogs of Christmas. “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree”. The first paper in the special issue of the Psychreg Journal of Psychology is a peach rather than a pear (if that doesn’t sound too much like Alan Partridge!)
The 12 blogs of Christmas
Last week saw the publication of 12 new papers on male psychology. Each article is free to download at the Psychreg Journal of Psychology website. In the first week there has already been over 600 downloads. So why all of the interest in these papers? Well, over the next two weeks you can find out because I will be posting the abstract and short commentary on each paper, and the link to the full article.