by Vincent As part of our occasional series on views of Male Psychology and masculinity around the world, psychology student, Vincent, tells us about men’s wellbeing in South Africa. South Africans began the millennium full of hope and pride, having avoided a violent clash of cultures in 1994 with the ANC’s rise into political power in a previously white-controlled nation. Many men of all races laid down their arms and put their hatred to bed to accept the new age of peaceful integration under the noble but ageing shadow of Nelson Mandela. These men fought for, or against, Apartheid, both conv ..read more

by Nostradormouse  There always seems to have been a small number of men with a very interesting skill set, who are sufficiently independently minded, have self-taught enough of the skills necessary to be able to participate in the next big thing before it becomes a thing, participate in it while it is still a meritocracy, and before the syllabus to study the area is established. The boundary condition men. The guys waiting around for the boundaries to shift and for something to become possible. I don’t speak of the polymaths. Turing, Ramanujan, and Newton all propelled society ..read more

by Dr John Barry It has often been said that the local pub is an invaluable social hub, especially in rural communities. To those of you who weren’t convinced of this already, perhaps now that the pub is becoming an endangered species due to covid-19 lockdowns, you might be changing your minds. So what exactly are we losing? Within the rather nebulous idea of the social hub you could unpack many useful activities that are important on a human level, and here are three related to men’s mental health. 1/ Socialising is good for your wellbeing One of the key needs of human beings, according ..read more

by Dr John Barry In case your holiday season is turning out to be less than happy, here are some places you can contact for support: Samaritans phone lines are open 24/7 (365 days) Tel 116 123 (UK & Ireland) The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) helpline is open 365 days 5pm – midnight. Tel 0800 58 58 58. Or try the CALM webchat https://www.thecalmzone.net/help/get-help/ If you are a father experiencing a stressful time post-separation, you can call the Families Need Fathers helpline 0300 0330 363 (9am – 10pm Monday to Friday, 10am – 3pm at weekends). If you are a man ..read more

By Dr John Barry If you haven’t already seen the December 2020 edition of the Psychreg Journal of Psychology, then take my good advice and go take a look.  I was the guest editor of this edition, with kind support from the Editor-In-Chief, Dennis Rolojo-Howell. I won’t say more about the special issue here – you can read my editorial (‘Twelve reasons’) for an overview – but instead will lay out before you the table of contents, like a Christmas buffet for my friends. To download a paper, click on the ‘PDF’ link. Enjoy! December 2020 • Volume 4, Issue 3 Full issue: PDF (4 MB) Copyright 20 ..read more

By Dr John Barry First published as a BPS blog here If you are like me and became a new dad in the past year or so, you may well have found yourself with unprecedented amounts of time at home with a baby.  For most people this will be a challenge and even trigger depression (see helpline details below), but in fact there can be a silver lining, or even golden opportunity, in being locked down with baby. A recent meta-synthesis of 13 studies looked at the experiences of new dads of babies up to 12 months old (Shorey & Ang, 2019). Three themes emerged:   Development of the father-i ..read more

by John Barry As world mental health day rolls around again this year, we might wonder how much attention and funding is being allocated to the mental health issues that disproportionately impact men, and what is being done to alleviate them. However rather than innovative new interventions and programmes, we are more likely to find masculinity or patriarchy blamed for men’s mental health problems. Most of the main players in the world of mental health, such as the World Health Organisation, continue to overlook the fact that suicide and death from alcohol predominantly impacts men.  All ..read more

By Dr John Barry Male suicide has increased since the year 2000. In fact male suicide rates are now at the highest level for 20 years, according to new figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS). Of recorded suicides in 2019, 4,303 were male and 1,388 were female. As usual for the UK since the 1990s, around three quarters of the deaths were male. What might explain the exacerbation of this continuing tragedy? According to the ONS: “Higher rates of suicide among middle-aged men in recent years might be because this group is more likely to be affected by economic adversity, alcoh ..read more

by John Barry It was fantastic to have a chance a few days ago to talk with three legends of the men’s movement: Author and counsellor Tom Golden Counsellor and men’s rights campaigner Paul Elam Lecturer and men’s issues blogger Professor Janice Fiamengo They were interested in the recent paper by myself and colleagues (Rob Walker, Louise Liddon, and Martin Seager) on the subject of people’s reactions to the comtemporary narratives about masculinity. Being experts on men’s issues there were some very insightful comments and questions. See the 48 minute discussion here: ‘A Conversation with D ..read more

Should we believe everything that we hear about men and masculinity? What role do evolution, biology and culture play in men’s behaviour? Do we tend to blame men for their health problems more than is reasonable? What can be done to reduce male criminality? How can the standard approach to men’s mental health be improved? What does gender equality mean for men? A new book on male psychology will be available in a few months time, authored by Louise Liddon and Dr John Barry, and published by Wiley. In around 300 pages this book uses evidence from science to shed light to some of todays heated ..read more