Behind the armor: masculine toughness as both risk and barrier in complex PTSD recovery: developing the MIMIC framework.

This work examines how cultural expectations of hegemonic masculinity (HM) shape the presentation of psychological distress and the challenges of recovery for men living with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD). We argue that hegemonic ideals of masculine toughness, centred on emotional restraint, autonomy, and invulnerability, heighten susceptibility to identity disturbance following trauma while also obstructing access to the relational and emotional practices essential to healing. For many men, trauma is experienced simultaneously as a psychological injury and as a threat to an established masculine self. The internalisation of HM norms produces shame, disconnection, and emotional repression, creating conditions in which recovery often requires forms of openness and vulnerability that contradict the masculine ideals men have been socialised to uphold. This paper traces how HM functions as both a risk factor and a mode of functional resistance that shapes how trauma is experienced, narrated, and embodied. By reframing CPTSD through masculinities identity theory, we identify the need for therapeutic models that engage masculinity as an active component of trauma recovery. To address this, we introduce a masculinities-responsive clinical framework that supports the reconstruction of masculine identity as part of psychological repair: the MIMIC framework. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.