This is a gentle reminder that men also get traumatized.
They also get hurt. They get confused. They also want to cry.
Men also need a shoulder. They also need support.
A man came into therapy with me a few years back and it took five sessions to get him to open up. It then took two more sessions to get him to become vulnerable. When he did cry, he cried for over two hours!
These tears signified long years of ‘keeping it in’.
The years he had been told to ‘man up’ and not ‘sweat it’.
The years he had to let things slide because ‘men don’t nag’.
The years he had to watch his sisters get treated like princesses while he was expected to defend them as a knight.
The years where he had no one checking in on him to see if he was protected.
These were years he couldn’t open up to anyone that his nanny sexually abused him when he was a little boy.
Years where no one saw that he was hurting and that he was being threatened not to talk.
Now, the years have gone by and his emotions are still kept in and he has no voice… until he came in for therapy.
