Qualitative Study of Depression in Men, analysis of Morrison Kathleen and Hines Denise (2001)s article
Depression in Men
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Qualitative Study of Depression in Men, analysis of Morrison Kathleen and Hines Denise (2001)’s article
Qualitative Summary
Research on men involved in relationships that are intimate and who are often abused is quite a lot. The authors of this article, Morrison Kathleen and Hines Denise (2001), discuss men and the physical aggression they are subjected. The American public became aware of the fact that many husbands were abusing their wives in the 1970’s. The rates of this abuse have escalated greatly that even men are now the ones being abused by their wives. The two authors came up with a qualitative study that focused on data that exists concerning wives who abuse their husbands. There are cases that warrant the abuse of men is one that is catching up fast in the modern world. There were various sources of data that were used by the two authors in the study. First, they were obtained from previous studies done by Gelles in the year 1974. The data provided testimonies from women who had claimed to have abused their husbands. The other source was from the U.S. Department of Justice that provided crime statistics. It showed that many men who were in intimate relationships were assaulted by the partners. Men who were abused were quite reluctant to let people know about the issue as society could shun them. In turn, the abused males became depressed and would not seek help. The second data source was from the ‘National Violence Against Women Survey’. It took place in the form of personal interviews whereby, the women and men had to give their personal experiences on abuse from their partners. The last data source was obtained from the ‘Conflict Tactics Scale’ studies with information regarding violence against men. The authors found out that some of the ways men were abused was in the form of beating, punching and kicking (Hines & Morrison, 2001).
The methodology employed by Morrison and Hines ensured that the respondents who were males in college focused on a conceptual bases. The study focused on a CTS, which is known to be quite controversial. Firstly, the context, which the respondents were interviewed, only deals with conflict, and not physical and psychological acts. Secondly, there was no mention from the respondents about how the aggressive acts affected them. Lastly, it was not known what factors motivated the respondents to express the aggressive acts. The CTS methodology is known to focus on punching and hitting, which are superficial acts. The authors found conclusive results concerning the study that they had carried out. It was found out that women who abused men did everything possible to weaken the man’s ego. They would call the man names such as ‘wimp’ and ‘ugly’, and even, when the children were around. In turn, the men would become depressed, lose weight, blame themselves, and even feel insecure .The only reason why the men stayed in the relationship was that they believed that the women would change their attitude. The study had substantive evidence that emotional abuse is the leading cause of depression of men who have been abused by the partners or wives. In conclusion, Morrison and Hines have proven that when men are in intimate relationships, they can suffer from physical abuse. Therefore, the men tend to experience assaultive and self-mutilating behaviors, as well as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. More research needs to be done in this critical area to find out more concerning depression that affects men (Hines & Morrison, 2001).
References
Hines, Denise. & Morrison, Kathleen. (2001). Psychological effects of partner abuse against men: A neglected research area. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 2, 2, 75-85.
