Abstract
The current research study seeks to explore how male psychotherapists negotiate the relationship between their identities as men and their identities as therapists and whether a realignment of the two is required. The Oxford English Dictionary (2012) gives the definition of identity as the characteristic determining who or what a person or thing is. The word man, they define as an adult human male (Oxford University Press, 2012). Existing research into the relationship between men’s identities and their identities as therapist’s focuses on the limitations old ideas of masculinity place on males who work within the humanistic and integrative field of psychotherapy. Additionally it is argued that the field has become a female concentrated occupation. This research asks the question of who post-modern man is and how he negotiates his way within the field of psychotherapy. The study concludes that the role of the post-modern male has changed and is being conceived of as one which is more fully human; that self monitoring through personal therapy is essential for all practising psychotherapists in order to ensure that they have worked through a sufficient amount of their own process; and that there is a need to look beyond gender in order to integrate all aspects of self for the work of the humanistic and integrative psychotherapist. Author keywords: Humanistic and integrative psychotherapy, male identity, masculinity, post-modern man, female concentrated occupation
