OKAY, IM HERE, BUT IM NOT TALKING - PSYCHOTHERAPY WITH THE RELUCTANT MALE

Many men land reluctantly on the therapist's doorstep, arriving at the insistence of a wife, a parent, a probation officer, or an employer. These men, like many others who are self-referred, experience therapy as foreign terrain, The currency of psychotherapy is communication, ex posure, vulnerability, and intimate sharing, currency which men who ha ve been socialized in this culture have limited experience with. Given this situation, we may rightly ask whether conventional therapeutic i nterventions, historically developed for use with women, make the most sense? If not what we do so routinely every day, then what new interv entions do make sense? This article will address these questions focus ing on new ways to develop the alliance, formulate patient dynamics ba sed on current ideas about the psychology of men, and design creative interventions that speak to men in their own currency.