Meanwhile, the American Psychological Association suggests viewing patients through a gender-based lens. In their first ever guidelines for practice with boys and men released in 2019, the group said their recommendations “draw on more than 40 years of research showing that traditional masculinity is psychologically harmful and that socializing boys to suppress their emotions causes damage. The main thrust of the subsequent research is that traditional masculinity—marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance, and aggression—is, on the whole, harmful.”
