Men, women behave differently on therapist's couch!

Men look for a quick fix from psychological therapy whereas women want to talk about their feelings, according to a new study which suggests that addressing such gender differences may help better treat people with depression.
Researchers at University of Portsmouth and University College London in the UK asked 20 experienced therapists (clinical psychologists, counselling psychologists and psychotherapists) whether they had identified gender differences in any aspects of their work.
All 20 of the therapists reported noticing gender differences in one or more aspect of therapy and the overall message was that - in general - men want a quick fix and women want to talk about their feelings.

"One of the interesting findings was that 80 per cent of the therapists showed a reluctance to talk directly about gender differences in the needs of their clients," said John Barry from University College London.
"This could be due to the culture in academia, where discussions of gender similarities are more acceptable than discussions of gender differences," said Barry.
"Psychology might be more effective in treating men if gender differences were taken into account more," he said.

In a second study, researchers from Northumbria University in the UK asked 347 people to say what kind of therapy they would like if they needed help.

The men and women in this group, half of whom reported having received some form of therapy, showed many similarities in their preferences, but also some key differences.
For example, men more than women expressed a preference for therapy that involved sharing and receiving advice about their concerns in informal groups.
More women than men preferred psychodynamic psychotherapy - where discussion focuses on feelings and past events.
There were interesting differences in coping strategies too, for example, women more than men used comfort eating, whereas men more than women used sex or pornography.
"Despite the fact that men commit suicide at three to four times the rate that women do, men do not seek psychological help as much," said Barry.

"This might be because the types of treatment on offer are less appealing to men because many psychological interventions are more about talking than about fixing problems," Barry added.
"It is likely that men benefit as much as women from talking about their feelings, but if talking about feelings appears to be the goal of therapy, then some men may be put off," he said.
"Our study found that men were more likely than women to say that there is a lack of male-friendly therapies available," he added.