Stefanie Stahl is a best-selling author and psychotherapist, Lukas Klaschinski is a podcast star and psychologist – they write one together star-Column on topics of love, family and relationships. This episode is about men and mental health.
By Stefanie Stahl and Lukas Klaschinski
Lukas Klaschinski: I recently had a conversation with a man who had studied who was of the opinion that psychotherapy and seeing a therapist is only for sick people. His exact choice of words: when you are “plem plem”. Oh man. This showed me that psychotherapy is still something incredibly stigmatized. I think, Steffi, you and I live in our psychological bubble in which we find openness to such topics totally normal. For others it is not yet so obvious.
Stefanie Stahl: That’s right, we live in a bubble. We’re trying to expand on that with this column, hopefully.
Lukas Klaschinski: Exactly. For many of us, it comes naturally to stay healthy on all levels by getting enough sleep and eating well. But keeping yourself mentally healthy is not something that has been widely adopted yet. We all have things that we just haven’t learned well or correctly. It’s like learning to walk incorrectly and always putting strain on the inner soles of your feet. Psychotherapy can then be a tool for finding a better way to deal with your thoughts and feelings. This is always a process and we need help for it. Without them it would be like training in the Bundesliga without a coach. Why should it be any different for our mind and soul?
Stefanie Stahl: But the stigma, as you say, is widespread. The figures also indicate that men are more skeptical about psychotherapy than women. Of course, this doesn’t affect everyone who identifies as male. But the statistics show a clear trend: two thirds of the people in therapy are female and a third are male. However, the number of men is increasing, so the bubble is expanding. Of course, it’s not that easy to get a therapy place in Germany. The waiting time is relatively long, even with acute symptoms. On average it is five months. However, the gender gap remains remarkable.
Lukas Klaschinski: What I find interesting about the numbers: Many more women than men go to therapy, even though we don’t see a drastic difference when it comes to mental illnesses. The number of unreported cases among men is apparently very high. What’s particularly shocking is that the suicide rate is much higher among men than among women. They account for three quarters of all suicides. This means that there is suffering, but men do not like to receive psychotherapeutic treatment as much as women. You ask yourself: Why is that actually the case?