We will be looking at this familiar but evolving subject through a number of lenses: mental health, psychosocial, clinical and archetypal. A sense of ‘masculine crisis’ has permeated western culture for some time but how far have we as practitioners in the analytic and wider mental health field managed to get to grips with this, and how might we better approach the needs and aspirations of men (and boys) when they come to us for help?
We will also be exploring the question of whether a root influence on the current situation might be a kind of ‘crisis’ in the archetypal masculine. As traditional patriarchal and Abrahamic symbols seem to be slowly fading in their influence, where might the archetypal masculine and its deeper, spiritual, masculine frames of reference now reside for those of all genders? Is there scope for the masculine to be healthily re-sacralised alongside a resurgent feminine, as the world faces into multiple challenges – not least climate-change, and what might that look like?
I look forward to exploring these and any questions you might have around this important theme.
In addition to the reading, also please have a look at Andrew Samuels’ video lecture on men, part 2 on practice in particular: