Self and Society Volume 44 Issue 3

The following lists the contents of Self and Society, Volume 44 Issue 3.
Each article can be downloaded as a PDF, but only if you are logged in as an AHP subscriber.
The table of contents for this issue can be downloaded as a PDF file.

Editorial:
Authors: Richard House, David Kalisch
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Introduction to the symposium
Authors: Hank Earl, Manu Bazzano
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Article:
Searching for menswork that works: a report on an experiment in therapeutic groups for men
Author: Nick Duffell
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Abstract:

Group therapy can be more effective for men than individual therapy. Since men learn defensive masculinity in groups of men, they can best unlearn it in groups, as a step towards maturity. Many males grow up with inadequate fathering, which affects their own masculinity, building in a sense of distance. But what men missed in their own fathers they may find in other men in order to ‘re-programme’ their internal lack. Exploring identity issues and practising being emotionally present in groups facilitate better family and work relationships. Supported by therapeutic menswork, men can challenge the patterns of dominant masculinity to become a force for social change in their own communities.

Nietzschean modes of gender construction in a post-feminist age
Authors: Niklas Serning, Nina Lyon
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Abstract:

An arrogance of certainty besets discourses of gender in today’s culture, and denigrating as well as overly affirming accounts of masculinity leave the individual man at risk of either self-loathing or self-aggrandizing. This article will look at various lay accounts of masculinity and the dynamics of its construction in opposition to culturally dominant moral codes, and will interrogate the underlying philosophical positions at work through Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality. In doing so, we propose that it is helpful to see Nietzsche as an early philosopher of difference, and embrace a less fixed approach to ontologies of gender accordingly.

Becoming a pilgrim: the lived experience of men becoming therapists following a former career
Authors: Nigel Smaller, Linda Finlay
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Abstract:

Becoming a psychotherapist following a former career can be arduous and uncertain, yet also purposeful and meaningful for those undertaking the challenge. As considerably fewer men than women enter this profession, we thought it interesting to explore men’s specific experiences by looking at the lived experience of seven male participants’ transition into psychotherapy from a previous career. With the application of van Manen’s existential-hermeneutic phenomenological approach, three themes emerged: Fermenting discontent, Pilgrimage as project and The ambivalent allure of acceptance. We briefly describe each with reference to relevant existential concepts, attending in more detail to the final theme. We conclude by discussing the challenges for men making this transition, and how becoming more aware of the experiences of men can be a mechanism for promotion and support in this profession.

‘It’s a Wonderful life’: a portrait of a man in crisis
Author: Hank Earl
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Abstract:

Drawing on the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life and my own experience of participation in and facilitation of men’s groups, this article seeks to appraise the central character’s emotional range and intensity, charting parallels between George Bailey and Parsifal, the Grail Knight, whose story forms the spine of Robert A. Johnson’s book He: Understanding Masculine Psychology (1991).

Indoor man: notes on masculinity and neoliberalism
Author: Manu Bazzano
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Abstract:

This article reflects on contemporary notions of masculinity in relation to sexuality, the internet and the latest addendum to the neoliberal project, the ‘pharmaco-pornographic’ management of affect. Drawing on clinical work, on Nietzschean notions of culture and civilization and on contemporary critical theory, the author asks whether psychotherapy can help contemporary men out of the impasse between wildness and domestication. To this purpose, the article also sketches the basis for a feral philosophy that may be able to navigate a middle path for a masculine identity that is stuck between brutality and docility.

Editorial:
Introduction to the symposium
Author: Jennifer Maidman
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Article:
Trans knowledge
Author: Jay Stewart
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Abstract:

Despite the growing popularity of television documentaries featuring transgender subjects, very little critical attention has been given to them. This article investigates ‘trans visibility’ and how visual narratives and the knowledge produced by them contribute to the ways in which trans subjects form themselves between knowledge products. Such documentaries form a notably ‘popular’ route to obtaining trans knowledge – what it means to be trans or what trans is.

An aim for men
Author: John Rowan
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Abstract:

It is getting harder and harder to know what a man is supposed to be like, but Aaron Kipnis made a great contribution with his notion of the ‘initiated man’ who has dared to go in for personal therapy. I want to expand on this idea, and to give some examples of how it works in practice.

How well does bereavement counselling in the UK provide for the particular needs of trans people and for their friends and families?
Author: Charlotte Hannah Thomas
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Abstract:

Several developments over the last 10 years have brought profound changes for trans people in the UK and for their families and friends. While these changes are welcome, there is still much to be done and not all of society, including the therapeutic community, will have caught up with these changes. The trans community is part of an increasingly aging population in the UK, and it has faced, and is still facing, transphobia, discrimination, prejudice and social exclusion. This article seeks to review the literature that identifies the particular needs of trans people and their friends and families as they cope with the challenges of aging, including the death of a loved one or of friends and family. It explores how social exclusion, estrangement and isolation may make contact with bereavement counselling services all the more important for this community. But a history of rejection and prejudice may create a barrier, as potential trans clients remain defensive and wary of these services. Although there is little research on the subject, it is likely that the barriers to counselling will not be overcome unless therapists take action to reach out to this community and reassure them with their trans-affirmative practices.

Which Way and Proximity
Author: K.A. Perryman
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Introduction
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Depressive Realism
Author: Ernesto Spinelli
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Depressive Realism
Author: Caroline Brazier
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On depressive realism: a letter from John Rowan
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A depressive realist response to Caroline Brazier, Ernesto Spinelli and John Rowan
Author: Colin Feltham
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The therapeutic dimensions of walking: an interview with art therapist and walker, Karin Jarman
Authors: Karin Jarman, Richard House
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Book Review:
Wildness and our original one-ness with creation
Author: Karin Jarman
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Transgender emergence: therapeutic guidelines for working with gender variant people and their families
Author: Jennifer Maidman
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Psy healing beyond modernity and professionalization?
Author: Richard House
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The joy of gender
Author: Robert Sardello
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The AHP chair's page
Author: Lucy Scurfield
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Stuart’s political diary
Author: Stuart Morgan-Ayrs
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