ABSTRACT
Couples therapy can be extremely challenging work, and a number of authors have noted the numerous clinical mistakes therapists can make, including failing to structure sessions, giving up on relationships prematurely, allowing arguments to escalate, timing interventions poorly, overcontrolling emotional expression, and accepting unfounded myths about the nature of healthy relationships (Doherty, 2002; Gottman, 1999; Weeks, Odell, & Methven, 2005; Weeks & Treat, 2001). After highlighting common therapeutic errors, these authors offer their own solutions, and in this chapter, we will follow that same sequence. Our particular focus is on where treatment can go awry when the clinician is not male sensitive. We define male-sensitive therapy as conceptualizing and intervening with an awareness of the particular fears, expectations, vulnerabilities, and strengths male partners bring into the treatment process. Our own thinking on male-sensitive couples therapy has been strongly influenced by the past two decades of scholarship on men and masculinity, much of it authored by researchers and theorists associated with the New Psychology of Men studies movement (Levant & Pollack, 1995). However, our thoughts are also drawn from our combined experience of over 50 years of clinical practice with couples and our longstanding efforts to bring a gender-aware perspective to our work.
