November is Men’s Mental Health Month and it’s time to expand the conversation about male socialized invulnerability.
Like women, men also experience the vast range of human emotion.
😀☺️🙂🥲😒😞😡😥😭😤😫
However, there are major differences. Women are generally given permission to feel, whereas men tend not to be.
The judgment and negative perception can lead to suppression of discomfort and shame.
Women have permission to feel uncomfortable feelings, however society still tends to judge anger.
For men, it’s the opposite. They are given more permission to experience and express anger (e.g. they’re boys, they’ll duke it out then go for a drink), however are judged for experiencing or expressing tender, vulernable and uncomfortable feelings.
We’ve been making progress, for sure, but there’s still a long way to go.
The stigma around vulnerable, tender and painful emotions and its outmoded association with weakness has affected men significantly.
This is a reminder of the tremendous courage and strength it takes to face and feel our pain.
When we’re suppressing our emotions, it can feel like we’re controlling them. However, they remain within us – unprocessed, unresponded to and unresolved.
Sometimes, it only takes a minor trigger to provoke a strong reaction related to our inner need to discharge the pain. They end up controlling us.
We can learn, thankfully, to manage them. To respond to our pain and soothe uncomfortable states of being. To listen to emotions, accept them, experience and soothe them. This is what emotional regulation, or management, is all about.
Our caring therapists are here to help you meet, understand, process & soothe the vulnerable, tender emotions that may have been buried deep within. Our male therapists are here to support you. We offer in-person psychotherapy in Toronto, as well as online throughout Ontario.
To book an appointment, Contact Us!
© Sunnyside Healing Arts, Inc. 2024
Graphics courtesy of @melani.shortsleeves
