The Integrity Model

Abstract

A recent shift in the literature on the psychology of men calls for a positive understanding of men and masculinities. Long before this, a growing empirical and clinical literature based on nearly five decades of work with men indicates that men have been receptive to a positive, wellness- and values-based Integrity model of existential psychotherapy. Illustrated by two case studies, this article offers a theoretical and clinical exploration of ways in which men address issues of belonging, intimacy, and community with self and others within Integrity-based psychotherapy. This work challenges the literature on men and masculinities and on psychotherapy with men in several key ways: (a) Men engage immediately in Integrity-based work and readily discover their viable emotional voices; (b) they are willing to explore vulnerable emotions within the therapeutic relationship; (c) resistance is practically nil; and (d) the Integrity model has a unique component of adaptability and universality.