Evidence-based assessment with men.

Abstract

Men are almost universally underrepresented in psychological clinics and practices in the United States. One possible explanation for this underrepresentation is that men frequently conceal or obscure their emotional difficulties as a consequence of masculine gender role socialization. Men who subscribe to traditional, Western masculine values may be inclined to hide, minimize, or otherwise have difficulty expressing their psychological suffering, rendering this suffering difficult for clinicians to observe, diagnose, and treat. This manuscript describes an approach to the assessment process with men that integrates clinical reports on assessment and psychotherapy with men, values pertaining to our culture's construction of traditional masculinity, and empirical findings on psychological disorders more commonly observed in men.