Abandonment fear in men is frequently disguised behind more socially acceptable emotions. Anger is the most common mask. A man who blows up when his partner goes out with friends may be experiencing abandonment panic, but what he shows is rage. Jealousy is another common cover. So is emotional withdrawal, where the man shuts down preemptively to avoid the vulnerability of caring too much. Each of these responses protects the man from having to acknowledge the underlying fear, but each also damages the relationship he is trying to preserve.
Dr. David Steinbok works with men from the Delray Beach, Florida area who are ready to look beneath these surface reactions and understand what is actually driving them. A fear of abandonment therapist for men does not ask the patient to stop being angry or jealous. The work is about understanding what the anger or jealousy is protecting, which is almost always a fear of loss that the man does not feel safe enough to express directly.
