Therapist gender preference in private practice?

[erg923]

My cage fighter wife intimidates me...... On a serious note, my wife was taken aback by the posters comment that he assumes "this is obviously going to increase the already substantial focus on women." I don't think women issues has ever occurred to my wife during her doctoral training. While it is true that female psychologists are statistically more likely to focus on women's issues than men...I know of no research that has documented that females psychologists focus on women's issues at a disproportionate rate when compared to the other research areas. That's the issue, and there is simply no data supporting that notion. I think you might be falling subject to the "illusionary correlation" that can occur when we see a group of female psychologists studying women's issues in one setting, and we then make the logical fallacy of placing a high correlation between being a female psychologist and the occurance researching women issues.

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[amavi]

I worked within a school system for a year, and I was the first male therapist any of my kids had. I was also able to model positive male behavior, as many of my clients came from tough family lives where male roles were often not healthy.

There is definitely a need, though that isn't to say there aren't many highly qualified women available, there is just less diversity.

There are many qualified men bankers and corporate executives. Yet, it is important to see more women in these areas.

Psychology is part of a larger support system which includes social workers, nurses, teachers, school counselors, marriage and family therapists etc...
This larger system is woefully short of men. Recent trends in Psychology unfortunately reflect the larger system trends.

 

[Psyched77]

My cage fighter wife intimidates me......

Off topic, but...we know a couple where both the husband & wife are fighters. He has been fighting for nearly 20 years (UFC, IFC, WEC, etc.) & has won several belts, & she is a 7 time national women's champion in MMA! We always laugh at the thought of someone trying to mug them!

 

[erg923]

we "wrestle" on frequent occasions....... That might be just borderline inappropriate.....sorry I am calling up my better half to do some more research into this perceived slant (without documenting evidence) towards women's issues in psychology. She has officially thrown her hat in the ring....plus, she's just alot smarter than I am.

 

[Psyched77]

we "wrestle" on frequent occasions....... That might be just borderline inappropriate.....sorry

Reminds me of that fantastic new Axe commercial. (They used to be so sexist, & now they've come around!) Have you seen it? All the growling & gnarling...then the wrestling! lol

 

[Chuckwalla]

...in your opinion. Last time I checked, you weren't the dictator of what parallels could or couldn't be drawn or of the analogies that could or couldn't be made.

If you can back up your analogy, I would be happy to hear it. Remember it said being a female faculty member is similar to a black family moving into a racist neighborhood.

According to...........??? If the fact that 70% of psych students are female, but only 37% of tenured track faculty are is representative of your brand of balance, then there is no point in continuing the conversation. (Plenty of other examples, like pay, could be listed, but in the interest of time...)

I know but I am cursed with elusive ability of foresight. The incredibly high numbers of female psychology students will change this.

According to...........???

Many areas actually. But I will go with education. The American college student population is increasing 60% female. Meanwhile girls are far ahead of boys in pretty much every subject.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2005-10-19-male-college-cover_x.htm

As I am sure you know a person's education sets up there whole life.

Wow. Brilliant. No stereotypes there. No anecdotal data there. Yes, my cage fighter husband is SOOOOOOOOOO intimidated by me, because I'm a strong woman. You're right. That's the VERY next thing I was going to say. Thanks so very much for saving me the energy.

You need to work on your use of sarcasm.

Do you not realize that you're talking about two completely different things here? The demographics of psychologists vs. the populations that are being studied by said psychologists. You can't coherently make your case unless you can follow some logical organizational patterns in your arguments. On your claim about who is being studied, I completely disagree. On your claim about the demographics of psychologists, the 70% is correct, but doesn't even come close to telling the whole story. (Plus, look at the demographics of CEOs, stock brokers, & biologists. Should I be pissed? And are you as pissed about the demographics of teachers, nurses, & the part-time workforce as you are psychologists? Why do you care so much about psych when you're not even in psych?)

You complained that in the past female problems were looked at from a male perspective. The same thing will happen to male problems, if it isn't already happening.

 

[erg923]

ok, I'm gonna withdraw. You insist on using personal beliefs and perception that is riddled with potential biases, rather than data or statistics consistent with science to back up your arguments. I don't understand how you will buy into, or practice evidence-based medicine with the attitude of you "know what's really going on," even when it flies in the face of empirical research. This attitude is not compatible with a career in psychological science, or medicine.

 

[Cosmo75]

Of course junk science is everywhere. The problem is it is not coming from Johnny's Psych Blog on MySpace. The lack of information is coming from people who are supposed to be authorities on the matter.

Actually junk science does come from johnny psych's blog. And the media. And mis-informed "experts" such as yourself. Like others, I'm still waiting for the data to back up your claims. Though I suspect your only citations could come from non-scientific sources.

 

[JockNerd]

ok, I'm gonna withdraw. You insist on using personal beliefs and perception that is riddled with potential biases, rather than data or statistics consistent with science to back up your arguments. I don't understand how you will buy into, or practice evidence-based medicine with the attitude of you "know what's really going on," even when it flies in the face of empirical research. This attitude is not compatible with a career in psychological science, or medicine.

...those who do not use reason cannot be swayed by it....

 

[Psyched77]

You know, I'm done too. I just checked up on this guy, & it appears that he's running around random sections of the SDN boards (Pre-Osteopathic, Pre-Allopathic, Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology, Ob/Gyn, Emergency Medicine, etc.) to shout his battlecry about white males being so discriminated against. It's his favorite topic -- based on a quick comparison of how often he talks about this vs. on-topic items. (I wonder what his obsession is all about. Maybe we could use him as a case study.) Anyway, here's a small sampling of his posts from the past month.

It sounds like a feminist dream.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=495538

So when does this blatant ignoring of the well being of males end?

It used to be natural for women to be good housewives up until not too long ago.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=444569

Women are overwhelmingly more likely to work part time because they want to spend more time with their children.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6547404#post6547404

Females have WAY more advantages than men in the industrialized world...

This is mostly because education has been geared towards girls...

Pro-female affirmative action has been practiced for decades. It is outright blatant in math and science fields along with the job market. Women who are willing to work full time get shuttled through management positions. Now that males are struggling, using affirmative action to help them out is not fair to women?

However, when a woman is hardcore career woman she will get preference in almost any scenario, often when she has less experience.

Scientists are nearing the point where women will be able to reproduce without men.

I will admit I do not have statistics. But we know that women generally choosing family over career leads to a dearth of women in upper-management.

I have seen and heard plenty of stories of women being favored. All around my campus I see fliers touting women going into PhD programs and getting professorship positions, despite that women get about 60% of PhD's.

When it comes specifically to women in upper-management I have seen a few really high up ones speak and say discrimination was not a problem.

Physical activities such as P.E. and recess have been cut down or flat out eliminated in favor of more sit-down a be quiet work. You are suggesting that boys act more like girls and that in itself is the very problem.

Interesting how he thinks girls don't need physical activity as well. Refer to my comment below about socialization.

Not true, women do not make less for the same job. Technically women make less than men but it is due to personal choices not discrimination. Women tend to go into more fulfilling and family friend careers such as teaching, social work, and nursing. Women are also significantly more likely to work part-time.

Someone doesn't realize that studies have controlled for these factors, but I'm getting the impression that he doesn't know what "controlled for these factors" means.

Adding to that women who recently graduated college make significantly more on average than male graduates...

The current school system goes all out making learning appealing and cool for girls and in the process does the opposite for boys.

And as I said, much focus on girls thanks to the feminist movement.

Do I really have to prove to you that boys are innately more active? ...ADHD diagnoses have skyrocketed in recent years. Boys are not the one who changed.

Someone doesn't understand socialization.

...females are way better off than males but still get most of the focus.

That is right, heart disease is only a problem when it affects women.

Finally, we have gynecology as a specialty. There is no andrology and do not say that is the job of urologists.

Women's health gets priority from the government. Have you seen all the national programs and drive to focus on women's health?

There is a health office for women but not men, can you explain why that should be?

The truth is none of these things particularly affect me but I think gender discrimination is bogus. When I went through high school and most of college I learned that women were the ones at a disadvantage and said I would speak out about that. Imagine my surprise when I found the exact opposite was true.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6501907#post6501907

That is mostly a remnant of a time when most doctors were men. These male OB/GYN's you speak of are older I would assume. OB residents are now overwhelming women and in about 20 years it will be a girls club.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6466278#post6466278

Men have harder time finding jobs and are often forced to go into undesirable areas. They are also sometimes fired in favor of a female OB/GYN.

...a female dominated field is light years more acceptable than a male dominated one.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6415849#post6415849

Men face much more discrimination than women. It seems society is content with making the problem worse by continuing the idea that women are the ones who are disadvantaged.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6367253#post6367253

...in general discriminating against women is rightly seen as wrong. On the other hand doing it to men is condoned and even encouraged.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6354342#post6354342

I don't think I have to tell what happens if you ban women from anything. Meanwhile, society has deemed that banning men is perfectly acceptable.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6353835#post6353835

It is irritating when you see all the "diversity" crap on employers websites. Diversity means less white guys. When it comes to schools diversity means less white people (because women tend to dominate higher education now, funny no one sees a problem with it going that way).

Apparently, he's not just bugged by women.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=510636

Anyone else think it's ironic that he said the following to another poster?

The reason I told you to chill was your short and confrontational nature.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6499139#post6499139

After reading some of his on-topic posts about his various academic/application questions, I'm completely unsurprised at his inability to think more critically/scientifically.

 

[erg923]

hmmm..very interesting..... I take it he's not married....Laura would have put the smack down on him....

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

*MOD NOTE: Okay people, please get back on topic, or I'll have to close the thread. -t*

So I have been hired on to do some minimal intervention work at an outpatient mental health clinic. I was told that I might not get many referrals because I am a male (this is the first time I was told this). The practice manager said that it is difficult for men in private practice, and compared to women, it can take them 3-5 times as long to get a flow of referrals and develop a reputation.

I did a quick literature search and found one decent article on the topic:
Kerssens, Bensing, & Andela (1997). Patient preference for genders of health professionals. Social Science & Medicine, 44(10), 1531-1540.

The article looked at various professions and essentially found that about 25% of women had a preference for a female therapist (73% had no preference), whereas only 13% of males had a preference for a female therapist (83% had no preference). It looks as though there is a clear preference (especially among women) and maybe my situation would be more difficult still because I work with children (and moms are more likely than dads to refer their child).

Has any of the guys out there thought about how this could hurt their ability to find work in private practice? Any thoughts from males in the field right now?

I highlighted a few things from the OP. Feel free to get back to anything in this post.

 

[Chuckwalla]

Sorry, Therapist4Chnge but I have to respond. After this I too am done. Thanks.

You know, I'm done too. I just checked up on this guy, & it appears that he's running around random sections of the SDN boards (Pre-Osteopathic, Pre-Allopathic, Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology, Ob/Gyn, Emergency Medicine, etc.) to shout his battlecry about white males being so discriminated against. It's his favorite topic -- based on a quick comparison of how often he talks about this vs. on-topic items. (I wonder what his obsession is all about. Maybe we could use him as a case study.) Anyway, here's a small sampling of his posts from the past month.

Funny, you say you are done but then you spend a significant amount of time combing through my posts and cherry picking my quotes. Often out of context. It's flattering but also a bit creepy.

I stand by everything I have said. Hopefully people will look at the threads to get proper context.

Someone doesn't understand socialization.

Your definition of socialization is when one gender has a significant advantage (college degrees) over the other. Got it.

Apparently, he's not just bugged by women.

First of all, I never said I am bugged by women. Second of all because I disagree with affirmative action I am bugged by minorities? Sounds like a smear attempt to me. I do not like affirmative action at all, even when it used in colleges today in favor of men.

"I am saying that there is a complete lack of focus on men's issues, in this case mental health."
Please provide EVIDENCE! You can not keep making conclusions based on your personal perception without documenting studies/evidence. I have already articulated the inherent fallacies that occur when judgments are based reasoning, rather than evidence(availability heuristic/fallacy, illusionary correlation, sampling bias, etc.). Shall I repeat them?

The US Department of Women's Health, including mental health.

http://www.4woman.gov/owh/

Why didn't I post the one for Men's Health? Because it doesn't exist.

Here are mental health programs the NIMH has funded in the past few years. They are the major and often sole source of funding.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/research-funding/grants/program-announcements.shtml?filter=All

If you do a search through it you will find plenty of research for women specifically and none for men.

 

[RileyG]

If you do a search through it you will find plenty of research for women specifically and none for men.

What about ED research? I recently read a study and they ONLY used male participants. The researchers must be chauvinistic pigs who do not value women. I don't know about the other ladies on this forum, but I'm pissed...

 

[RileyG]

Now, to get back to the topic...

I worked within a school system for a year, and I was the first male therapist any of my kids had. I was also able to model positive male behavior, as many of my clients came from tough family lives where male roles were often not healthy.

A while back I read a study that supported the same experience you had. They found that having a male therapist/counselor for children (especially boys, obviously) who do not have their fathers present in their lives was incredibly helpful. It's sounds pretty intuitive, but there was more to it than that, so I am going to search for that article now so I can remember the details...

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

A while back I read a study that supported the same experience you had. They found that having a male therapist/counselor for children (especially boys, obviously) who do not have their fathers present in their lives was incredibly helpful. It's sounds pretty intuitive, but there was more to it than that, so I am going to search for that article now so I can remember the details...

I'd love a citation if you could dig it up.

 

[OCHO]

You know, I'm done too. I just checked up on this guy, & it appears that he's running around random sections of the SDN boards (Pre-Osteopathic, Pre-Allopathic, Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology, Ob/Gyn, Emergency Medicine, etc.) to shout his battlecry about white males being so discriminated against. It's his favorite topic -- based on a quick comparison of how often he talks about this vs. on-topic items. (I wonder what his obsession is all about. Maybe we could use him as a case study.) Anyway, here's a small sampling of his posts from the past month.



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=495538



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=444569



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6547404#post6547404



Interesting how he thinks girls don't need physical activity as well. Refer to my comment below about socialization.



Someone doesn't realize that studies have controlled for these factors, but I'm getting the impression that he doesn't know what "controlled for these factors" means.



Someone doesn't understand socialization.



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6501907#post6501907



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6466278#post6466278



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6415849#post6415849



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6367253#post6367253



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6354342#post6354342



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6353835#post6353835



Apparently, he's not just bugged by women.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=510636

Anyone else think it's ironic that he said the following to another poster?



http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6499139#post6499139

After reading some of his on-topic posts about his various academic/application questions, I'm completely unsurprised at his inability to think more critically/scientifically.

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY SPOT ON. THE DUDE IS A TROLL MAN. HE IS CAUSTIC, ACIDIC... OR YOU COULD DESCRIBE HIM AS HAVING HIS pH OUT OF BALANCE.

I thought I was the only one that thought this. Thanks for taking the time to call this ......................... OUT!

 

[ProZackMI]

I've found gender is a pretty significant factor. When I was a practicing psychiatrist, I could see that many female patients felt uncomfortable with me, especially if their issues were related to sexual abuse, rape, sexual identity, etc.

More than gender, I found age to be a highly relevant factor with patients. I'm 37, but I look like I'm in my mid-20s. This can be a bad thing when you're trying to be professional. Older patients often questioned my credentials and would make comments like "Are you sure you're a doctor?". Younger males and females seemed to be comfortable with me, but older men had a problem as they incorrectly inferred I was too young, too inexperienced, or too immature. Older women would often get motherly and try to reverse roles with me, being more dominant and maternal.

So, I found age to be very significant factor. Race and sexual identity were also compelling factors. Many minorities tend to distrust white doctors/therapists. GLBT patients often don't open up with straight docs.

In the end, you'll refine clinical skills necessary to break down some of these barriers. I found that as I became more proficient with establishing rapport with my patients and assessing their clinical needs, I could break down preconceived biases and obviate irrational preferences in the therapeutic relationship. If, however, I saw it would too difficult to do so and would not go away as a significant issue, I'd refer to another psychiatrist.

To be honest though, a lot of the patients I worked with, despite gender and age preferences, would be happy that I was an American doctor who spoke un-accented English! Sorry, meant no disrespect to FMGs, but because they predominant in psychiatry, many Americans are relieved or thankful to get an American doc.

My two cents,
Zack