Report: Men Are Disappearing from the Psychology Field

According to new reports, men are disappearing from both psychology studies and psychology classrooms.

New information published this month suggests that men are slowly disappearing from the psychology field. One study revealed that men and boys make up only 34 percent of individuals participating in counseling and psychological care. And according to the American Psychological Association, the gender ratio of psychologists under 35 is an overwhelming nine to one in favor of women.

The American Psychological Association addressed this in a recent report. “The gender gap in the psychology workforce has widened,” the report reads. “This gender gap was even wider for racial/ethnic minority groups … It is important to understand both why a greater number of females have entered the workforce and why fewer males have entered the workforce, and more males have exited.”

Although it is widely reported that men, as a group, suffer from extreme psychological issues, these issues are often downplayed in culture. Issues like female body image often take precedence over any issue faced by men in American conversations about mental health.

John Barry, of the University College London, founded a group that aims to bring more men to the field. The group, which is called the “Male Psychology Network,” was created to help repair the relationship between the field of psychology and men.

“Men appear to need psychological help. For instance, they commit suicide at over three times the rate of women,” Barry said. “Yet they seek help less than women do. If we care about mental health, then we need to ask questions like ‘What can we do to improve help-seeking in men?’ and ‘Would men be more likely to seek therapy if they could see a male psychologist?’”
The recent recognition that more men are needed in psychology is important. Hopefully, awareness of this issue will bring about the change that is necessary to bring men back into psychology as both caregivers and as patients.