Men Asking Each Other for Help

These notes are from a topic group report at a workshop for Liberation from "Mental Health" System Oppression, November 1995.

  1. We thought that "men asking each other for help" is a key piece of men's liberation and of ending "mental health" system oppression.
  2. What can happen if men ask each other for help?
    • Men pay each other good attention and assist discharge.
    • Men recover their occluded intelligence and free themselves from the influence of past distress.
    • There is less chance of them getting caught up in the "mental health" system, of getting depressed, of using mind-altering drugs or committing suicide.
    • There is a better chance for their freeing themselves from addictive substances.
  3. Men not relying on women for emotional support is part of men's liberation.
  4. Men did ask for help once. They tried their hardest to continue asking for help.
  5. Men still try to ask for help, but they often do it in funny ways.
  6. When men are having their roughest time, that is when it is usually most difficult to ask for help. It is at this point, when men are at their most vulnerable, that rejection would be most devastating.
  7. At some point, men decided to stop asking for help for very good reasons. At that time, not asking for help seemed pro-survival.
  8. By not asking for help, men avoided criticism, humiliation, attack, maybe physical violence, certainly disappointment.
  9. When counseling men on asking for help, it is necessary for the client to make the decision to ask for help, but this may not be sufficient.
  10. During hard times, men can get so restimulated with feelings of isolation, humiliation, criticism, and disappointment, that they may forget everything.
  11. The decision to ask for help needs to be oiled and facilitated by discharge.
  12. In sessions, men can discharge the old feelings that stop them from asking for help.
  13. Counselors can ask men where they get stuck around asking each other for help, and where they feel like giving up.

Christopher Jacques
Oxfordshire, England


Last modified: 2022-12-25 10:17:04+00