4 Things to Discuss in Therapy for Men
Maybe you’re a guy, and maybe you’re considering going to therapy. I’ll try not to get too excited for you because I don’t want to scare you away. It’s a big deal to prioritize yourself and your mental health. Recognizing that you don’t have to do it all alone and that working with a professional is a life-changing thing to do, and you won’t regret it. Before beginning therapy, you might want to have an idea of what to even talk about and focus on. The truth is you can talk about anything you want, and I will find ways to help you through it. However, I can understand that you want a general idea on what are the types of things you bring up in therapy.
What to talk about in therapy for men?
The list of areas to focus on or talk about in counseling is truly endless. These are some examples of topics to discuss in therapy that could help you improve your mental health.
Coping skills
Life is hard, and learning to cope with stress doesn’t come naturally to many people. It can also be true that you may have learned to cope with stressors in life in ways that aren’t healthy or don’t serve you. For as stressful as life can be, it’s often the reality that nobody has taught you how to cope with this in ways that end up being helpful long term. Working with a men’s therapist can help you explore why you currently use the coping skills you use and how to implement new ones that might be a better option for you. Not every coping skill out there will work for everyone but therapy can explore and practice coping skills that work for you.
Relationship issues
Your relationships are likely important to you. You care about the people in your life. Whether you have a spouse, significant other, roommates, or friends, these relationships add value to your life. Sometimes your life experiences or your situation might interfere with these relationships. The men I work with want to be able to show up for the people they love in positive ways and when they are struggling mentally they don’t feel like they can. You also may have been through past heartbreak or an unhealthy relationship and don’t recognize how much it impacts you. Therapy for men can help you open up about your relationship struggles and help you find solutions to them.
Past negative experiences
Along with past relationships, you probably have past experiences that have been painful and you try to avoid them. You try to forget about them and shove them away but when something comes up that reminds you of what happened, you feel all of the sadness, fear, and anger all over again. I know many men try and downplay the past or make logical sense out of what happened. That’s not how our brains work as humans though. Those experiences impact how we view ourselves and we often need help healing from them. As a therapist, I offer my clients the ability to make connections with those experiences and how they feel about themselves now. Therapy can help you work through what happened and stop having to use all your energy to avoid your feelings.
Dealing with emotions
As a man, you are taught that showing sadness or fear is weakness. You learned to shut off your emotions and that the only permissible emotion is to feel angry. Even when it comes to anger, you have to balance it because too much anger might scare people. Our emotions are designed to help give us information on how to respond but men are taught to hide them, ignore them, and suck them up. Men worry that going to therapy will make them cry and not be able to stop. Maybe you do need to cry but that’s not the goal of learning to deal with your emotions. Therapy can help you recognize your emotions and to be able to deal with them without blowing up or shoving them down.
Therapy for men can help
I promise you aren’t weak for going to therapy. Therapy is far more normal than you realize. It doesn’t mean you’re crazy or that you can’t take care of yourself. It means that you are willing to grow and focus on yourself. Being able to focus on self-improvement is amazing quality and therapy can help you do this much faster than if you were to read every self-help this year. You’ll be surprised at what you learn about yourself by going to therapy and how much relief you feel throughout the process.
Begin working with a men’s therapist in Utah
You deserve to be taken care of too. You don’t have to keep struggling with a lack of confidence and be held back by your past. This Utah Counseling Center has a men’s therapist specializing in therapy for men. To begin therapy follow the steps below:
Meet with a men’s therapist in Utah
Start finding relief
Online Therapy in Utah
It’s hard to take time out of your busy schedule. I know to commute and traveling to a therapy appointment is not the most convenient thing for you to do. It can be a reason for people to put off going to therapy. Your mental health matters and going to therapy can make a world of difference. I want to help provide some convenience for you to attend therapy, which is why I offer online therapy in Utah. This allows us to meet face-to-face over a video platform without you leaving work or home.
I work with clients all over Utah, including Salt Lake City, Cedar City, Logan, Heber City, Saint George, and more.
Other mental health services provided by Marcus Hunt Therapy
Therapy for men isn’t the only counseling service provided at this Utah Counseling Clinic. Other mental health services Marcus Hunt Therapy offers, include anxiety therapy, EMDR therapy, PTSD treatment, depression therapy, marriage counseling, LDS marriage counseling, and premarital counseling.
About the Author
Marcus Hunt is a marriage and family therapist at Marcus Hunt Therapy in Utah. Marcus has a bachelor's degree from Utah Valley University in behavioral science. He also has a master's in marriage and family therapy. Marcus enjoys working with men and helping them improve their mental health. He understands men’s issues and wants to help men see they deserve help too. Marcus works with men in their 20’s-40s and enjoys working with college students and young adults. He focuses on working with early LDS missionaries and helping them overcome the shame they feel. When Marcus isn’t doing therapy, he’s likely playing fetch with his mini Goldendoodle in Spanish Fork.