The differences between men and women in treatment
[Author’s Preface : There are always exceptions and individual variations to the following generalizations — however, as generalizations, they prove true over a larger sample as taken from my practice over the years. There are men who I’ve treated who conform much more to the characteristics of women in treatment I outline below, and vice versa. Please take the following article in the spirit it is intended!]
My accumulated experience in the clinic has illustrated for me the differences between men and women, and how they engage in the treatment process. The first and most obvious fact is that my practice has always been populated by a much higher proportion of women than men. This is true not only in my practice, but in fact across virtually all health care modalities. Men, stereotypically, come in for treatment (when they come in for treatment, that is), as the ‘caboose’ dragged in by his spouse, and after the children.
Comparing the general health goals of men versus women also reveals a great difference in how they each think about health — men tend to be much more linear in their thinking, and thus bring to treatment very specific symptoms, desiring simply to eliminate them — the classic “problem / solution” mode of thinking. This is also, by the way, the reason that more men will choose conventional medicine over Heilkunst, which delivers such a quick symptom removal philosophy of healthcare. Women tend more to appreciate the process of Heilkunst treatment, and are more internally aligned with goals of taking care of their long-term health, as well as being conscious of their personal growth and development. While men appreciate the linear approach of treating the time line, women appreciate the idea of finding relationships between their inner world and what occurs in their outer ambient.
In addition to the symptom (problem/solution) focus of men, they also are more focussed on the external aspects of health, rather than their interior process of thoughts and feelings. Not only is it a realm which men don’t readily discuss, it is often a realm which apparently doesn’t even exist. In obvious contrast, the inner life of women is often spontaneously shared with me in consult, and which naturally becomes a more central focus of their treatment. On this point, when treating couples, this is one of the differences for which a bridge is sought out.
Treating a couple together can often be quite productive in many ways. The positive learnings that they gain from each other in their relationship generally are accelerated and enhanced within the treatment context. While one of the goals of health within Heilkunst is to find a balance between a capacity for healthy thinking, and for healthy feeling, a couple working on their health together will often help the other where natural strengths are overlaid onto the other’s natural weakness.
To conclude with this point, I’ll say that one of the general goals of health for either sex is to bring out and fully develop our polar nature. Every man has a feminine side, and every woman a masculine side. The abstract goal of “balance” becomes more concrete when it is framed in such qualitative terms.