– Counseling Services in Nashville to Help a Man Understand His World

Last Updated on May 4, 2023 by Chris Roberts

COUNSELING SERVICES IN NASHVILLE TO HELP A MAN UNDERSTAND HIS WORLD

References “The Male Brain” By Louann Brizendine, M.D. 2010. Three Rivers Press.

There are many different theories about how and why men are different from women. Counseling services in Nashville can help a man understand more clearly why relationships with women are more difficult and complicated than he might have ever imagined. There are some beliefs that men and women are basically the same; it’s just social conditioning that has made us different. There are some beliefs that men are fundamentally more intelligent and better leaders than women. There are some beliefs that women are better equipped to lead humankind because they are more compassionate and empathetic than men. This article won’t go into any judgments or conclusions as to who is the better sex. This article will simply use new, biological and neurological discoveries to point out the realities that men and women are fundamentally hardwired differently based on hormonal changes, particularly during the adolescent phase of development.

In a fantastic book about the male psyche by Dr. Louann Brizendine titled “The Male Brain,” she walks us through some basic, biological changes that occur during the adolescent phase of development. She writes, “Between the ages of nine and fifteen [a boy’s] male circuitry, with its billions of neurons and trillions of connections, was “going live” as his testosterone levels soared twentyfold. If testosterone were beer, a nine-year-old would get the equivalent of about one cup a day. But by the age of fifteen, it would be equal to two gallons a day.”(p. 32) How does this particular hormone, testosterone, affect other areas of the male body? Dr. Brizendine says, “it would make his brain’s sexual-pursuit circuits, in his hypothalamus, grow more than twice as large as those in a girl’s brain.”(p. 32) This is particularly important scientific data, because it gives neurological benchmarks for why men are more engrossed in sexual thoughts than women. It’s not just that men are pigs, or women are more sophisticated! She goes on to remark, “The male brain is now structured to push sexual pursuit to the forefront of his mind.”(p. 32) This is by no means an excuse or justification for a man’s misuse of sexual preoccupation through inappropriate action. It simply means that a man has a physiological difference when it comes to a comparison with a woman’s interest in sexuality.

Not only regarding sexuality, but there is a similar surge in a male’s preoccupation with aggression and physiological hierarchy. There is a hormone called vasopressin that is triggered by the release of testosterone, which acts as a reinforcement for physical and emotional aggression. Dr. Brizendine writes, “…in animal studies in which male voles were given vasopressin, it resulted in more territorial aggression and male protection.”(p. 39)

HOW CAN COUNSELING SERVICES IN NASHVILLE HELP?

Just because we understand scientifically why things happen, we still have to do the hard work of understanding the meaning and purpose these changes create. Dr. Brizendine puts good words to this when she says, “A key purpose of a hormone is to prime new behaviors by modifying our brain’s perceptions. It’s testosterone and vasopressin that alter a teen boy’s sense of reality. In a similar fashion, estrogen and oxytocin change the way teen girls perceive reality. The girl’s hormonally driven changes in perception prime their brains for connections and relationships, while the boys’ hormones prime them for aggressive and territorial behaviors.”(p. 38) This observation by Dr. Brizendine can’t be ignored. Our hormones change our brain’s hardwiring. As our neurological hardwiring changes, so does our perception (our meaning-making) of the physical realities around us.

Especially in regards to male-female relationships, this example above is why counseling services in Nashville exist, and how counseling services in Nashville can be helpful. There are so many situations throughout everyday life, where the specific action taken by one partner is interpreted so differently by each person. A male, whose brain was dominated by testosterone and vasopressin in adolescence, has learned and been trained to “view” this situation through his lens that was developed and mastered during this teenage years. On the other hand, a female may have a vastly different experience of the situation simply because her brain has been trained to interpret the event through different hormonal regulators.

If you are having trouble coping with the difficulties of being a man, or are in a relationship with a man and finding it hard to connect with him, there are counseling services in Nashville than can help. Chris Roberts at Two Trees Counseling Nashville provides counseling services in Nashville and would love to be a resource for you. Chris is a licensed, professional counselor in the state of Tennessee and can point you in the right direction for the help you need!