The Worth of the Study

boat and all the windows are sealed and it's dark inside and all the lights are out and there's a

storm raging outside. I can feel it because the boat is being pushed and rocked and the wind is

raging. Then it's like the blinds were taken off and I can see out the windows. I can see the

storm raging. I can start to navigate the boat through the storm. But now it’s like the weather

has changed. I can see where I’m going and the storm is no longer raging. I can see the odd

squall but their small storms and I can manage my way through them.” This is in direct

contrast to the story he tells us earlier about his father sending him into the wilderness without

a compass and that this extended to the way he experience life - as a man without a compass.

He now believes that becoming a man is a very different process. He summarizes this well for

us, “Boys need to be able to look to our fathers to find out how to be men. Boys need an honest

caring loving experience of their fathers and they need to learn the tough masculine stuff.

Boys need to learn both from their fathers. This is what turns boys into men.” He continues, “I

experienced an imbalance between the cultural expectations that fathers are not supposed to

show gentleness to their sons but only show the tough masculine side. But both are necessary

for boy’s self-esteem.”

Now he identifies himself as an integration of these two sides of masculinity, “I have

become a man who is a warrior and a hunter who wants love hanging in his meat house.”

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION

I have conducted a investigation into the narratives of recovery for men who have

been injured in their relationship with their father using the collaborative narrative research

method (Arvay, 2003). In this chapter I will contextualize and discuss the research findings of

this study with current conceptualizations of masculine gender role trauma, developmental

trauma, and treatment. Then I will examine the limitations of the study and consider the

worth of the study. The chapter will conclude with the researcher’s personal reflections on

conducting a study investigating gender role trauma in the father-son relationship using the

CNM (Arvay, 2003).

The convergence of trauma: An intersection between developmental trauma and

gender- role trauma.

The findings in this study support the natural convergence between gender role

trauma theory (Pleck, 1995) and current conceptualizations of developmental trauma (Ford,

2009).

There is independent and parallel research that documents the effects of interpersonal trauma

on early childhood development (Ford, 2009; van der Kolk, Pynoos, Cicchetti, Cloitre,

D’Andrea, Ford & Teicher, 2009). Few studies have shown how these findings inform current

conceptualizations of masculine gender role trauma (Pleck, 1995). Yet, there is a natural

convergence between Pleck’s theory (1995) and developmental trauma (Ford, 2009; van der

Kolk, et al., 2009) that is mutually informative and promotes the treatment of traumatized

men. The narratives and patterns of recovery described in this study help show the link

between these two conceptualizations of trauma. Pleck (1995) theorized that some kinds of

trauma will have particularly damaging effects on boys and men because the nature of the

trauma thwarts healthy masculine gender role formation and increases gender role strain.

Each of the participants in this study described the nature of their injury as having this effect

and that their repair transformed

their masculine identity. Understanding the implications of developmental trauma and gender

role trauma on men’s symptomotology and gender role formation is important for trauma

counsellors if they hope to engage men in effective male orientated treatments. Conversely, it

is important for male orientated counsellors to understand the complexities of treating men

who have a history of developmental trauma.

The findings in this study facilitate a clearer understanding of how recovery and

therapy can be experienced by men and can help counsellors work optimally with men

suffering a developmental injury that is incurred by their father. At the same time,

understanding the convergence of these two conceptual frameworks of trauma will help

counsellors increase their efficiency treating traumatized men. The findings in this study serve

as an important bridge between these two theoretical orientations and treatment approaches.

With this in mind, I present an integration of these two theoretical models of trauma with an

aim to show how the findings in this study can inform therapists who work with men within

an established trauma treatment framework. Knowing more about the unique ways

developmental trauma and gender role trauma effect men can help counsellors and counselling

psychologists provide the therapeutic treatment men need.

Developmental trauma.

There is a significant body of research that suggests that exposure to chronic traumatic

stress throughout childhood may set the stage for developmental trajectories characterized by

multiple forms of cognitive, emotional and behavioural difficulties (van der Kolk, et al. 2009).

Adults with this kind of history often come to therapy with complex symptoms that not only

match many of the symptoms of PTSD but can extend them often producing a fragmented

sense of the self (van der Kolk, et al. 2009). Having a previous history of traumatic