Objective. There is some evidence that men and women deal with stress in different ways; for example, a meta-analysis found that women prefer to focus on emotions as a coping strategy more than men do. However, sex differences in preferences for therapy is a subject little explored. Design.A cross-sectional online survey.Method. Participants (115 men and 232 women) were recruited via relevant websites and social media. The survey described therapies and asked participants how much they liked each. Their coping strategies and help-seeking behaviour were assessed too.Results. Survey data were analysed using multiple linear regression. After familywise adjustment of the alpha for multiple testing to p < .0125, and controlling for other relevant variables, men liked support groups more than women did (b = À.163, p < .010), used sex or pornography to cope with stress more than women did (Exp [B] = .280, p < .0002), and thought that there is a lack of male-friendly options more than women did (Exp[B] = .264, p < .002). The majority of participants expressed no preference for the sex of their therapist, but of those who did, men were only slightly more likely to prefer a female therapist whereas women were much more likely to prefer females (p < .0004). Even after familywise adjustment, there were still more significant findings than would be expected by chance (p < .001, two-tailed).Conclusions. Although there are many similarities in the preferences of men and women regarding therapy, our findings support the hypothesis that men and women show statistically significant differences of relevance to clinical psychologists. Practitioner pointsMen are less inclined than women to seek help for psychological issues This study demonstrates that men and women show significant differences in some aspects of therapy, coping behaviour, and help-seeking It is possible that men would be more inclined to seek help if therapies catered more for men's preferences Practitioners can learn to improve the success of their practice by taking the gender of clients into account

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Masculinity is frequently talked about in contemporary Western media as being in crisis, needing reform or even being 'toxic'. However, no research to date has assessed the impact that this pervasive narrative might be having on people, particularly men themselves. This cross-sectional online pilot survey asked 203 men and 52 women (mean + SD age 46 + 13) their opinions about the terms toxic masculinity, traditional masculinity, and positive masculinity, and how they would feel if their gender was seen as the cause of their relationship or job problems. Most participants thought the term toxic masculinity insulting, probably harmful to boys, and unlikely to help men's behaviour. Having feminist views, especially being anti-patriarchy, were correlated with more tolerance of the term toxic masculinity. Most participants said they would be unhappy if their masculinity or femininity were blamed for their work or relationship problems. Further analysis using multiple linear regression found that men's self-esteem was significantly predicted by older age, more education, and a greater acceptance of traditional masculinity. Men's mental positivity-which is known to be negatively correlated with suicidality-was significantly predicted by older age, a greater acceptance of traditional masculinity, and more education. Implications for the mental health of men and boys are discussed in relation to the narrative around masculinity in the media, social sciences, and in clinical psychology.

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