Premium
Rebuilding solidarity: an account of a men's health action project
Author(s) -
Melluish Steve,
Bulmer Don
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of community and applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1099-1298
pISSN - 1052-9284
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1298(199903/04)9:2<93::aid-casp519>3.0.co;2-i
Subject(s) - psychology , solidarity , distress , introspection , mental health , action (physics) , masculinity , social psychology , grassroots , socialization , sociology , psychotherapist , psychoanalysis , physics , quantum mechanics , politics , political science , cognitive psychology , law
The literature on men's health has tended to link men's psychological distress with the negative effects of male socialization and masculinity. This analysis ignores social class influences on the experience and communication of distress, is at risk of misrepresenting the nature of working class men's experience, and may lead to practice that is oriented towards intrapsychic approaches or men's ‘inner worlds’. This paper reports on a grassroots mental health initiative called the Men's Advice Network set up in the west area of Nottingham, UK, for men experiencing psychological distress who have been unemployed for over one year. The project was based on ideas from Holland's work in London, which attempted to link psychotherapeutic work with social action. The project described here attempted to take account of working class experience by emphasizing the role of the group rather than the individual, the social as opposed to the intrapsychic aetiology of distress, and the role of action rather than introspection. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.