Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on November 2, 2012 at 4:37pm

Haven't men always dominated the field? My husband was a psychologist.

Permalink Reply by Ian Mason on November 2, 2012 at 11:45pm

At the top, perhaps.The professorships tend to be a male preserve.

In my "career", I've seen (as far as I can remember) 2 psychiatrists (male) 3 consultant/senior psychiatrists (female) and 4 psychologists (female). One of the consultants once blurted out, in a group therapy sessiom, "of course men are superior to women", blushed a deep red and tried to save herself by adding "in some areas" rather too late to be credible.

Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on November 6, 2012 at 1:20pm

So how much do you see it changing then?

Permalink Reply by Ian Mason on November 6, 2012 at 2:42pm

Mostly in research fields, where the big toys are. A number of men also become consultants for large organisations. Most "front-line" therapists are women. Most men who become psychiatrists are those medical students who just scraped through their final exams and needed to be diverted into a specialty where they "couldn't do any harm".

I don't mean that as a blanket condemnation of the whole bunch. It's just my years of experience as a very jaded patient coming out.