I recently had the opportunity to ask Dr. Dutton (The Department of Psychology, UBC) a few questions relating to Men’s mental health and how to deal with struggling with adversity.
First I asked Dr. Dutton’s thoughts on the availability of resources in Canada for men who are victims of domestic violence (of any form). Quite often men seem to run out of places to go after being the victims of domestic abuse. Resources such as safe houses and government aided services just don’t seem to be as readily available.
Dr. Dutton stated “There are no resources for men in Canada. It’s shameful. The Men’s Center in Nanaimo struggles with government interference. Earl Silverman gave up trying to run a men’s center in Calgary.”
After long time frustration with the government and it’s lack of funding support for his safe house for men, Earl Silverman unfortunately committed suicide. See national post article here.
For men struggling with anger management or who may worry that sometimes their reactive impulse gets the better of them Dr. Dutton recommends Anger management – cognitive behavioural therapy exists for this and is effective.
When asked about the most startling statistic that Dr. Dutton has come across in his years of research and active work he said that “Non-violent men are assaulted by their female partners more frequently than non-violent women are assaulted by their male partners.”
If you think about the statistic what it is stating is that men who are not violent are assaulted by female partners more often than women who are not violent are assaulted by their male partners. My opinion is that we should not look at this statistic as that of defending men who are violent towards their partners but more so that there is simply too much domestic violence happening between partners. Especially if children are witnessing this.
See Children and Domestic Violence – NCTSN
I asked Dr. Dutton for a comment geared torwards our site’s visitors, men who are seeking to be and become better fathers and better human beings. His last words to me were short and right to the point: “It depends on the nature of the adversity – but I strongly suggest- get help- from CAFÉ, from a therapist or both.”
Dr. Dutton has written some great articles on men, domestic violence and related:
Depression as a risk marker for aggression
Navigating the ocean of false claims
See full list of his articles here: https://drdondutton.com/journal-articles/
He is also the author of several books including, “The Domestic Assault”, “The Abusive Personality” and “The psychology of Genocide, Massacres, and Extreme Violence”. A full listing of his available books can be found here: https://drdondutton.com/books/
