Issu psychotherapy wh lbian and gay men: A survey of psychologists

Contents:

• GAY THERAPY, GAY THERAPISTS, GAY TREATMENT
• IF YOU’RE GAY, SHOULD YOU SEE A GAY THERAPIST?
• ISSU PSYCHOTHERAPY WH LBIAN AND GAY MEN: A SURVEY OF PSYCHOLOGISTS
• SUCCSFUL TREATMENT TOOLS FOR WORKG WH GAY MEN THERAPY
• GAY THERAPY: HOW TO FD THE RIGHT GAY THERAPIST
• THERAPY FOR GAY, LBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PERSONS
• GAY THERAPY CENTER ONLE THERAPY REVIEW
• GAY THE RED-LIGHT DISTRICT? - AMSTERDAM FOM
• THEY/THEM REVIEW: A SLASHER GO TO GAY CONVERSN CAMP CLEVER HORROR MOVIE

GAY THERAPY, GAY THERAPISTS, GAY TREATMENT

Although a person’s sexual or romantic orientatn or genr inty may not be a source of distrs, people who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, qutng, asexual, or any other orientatn or genr inty may fd that the social stigma of livg as a mory is a source of strs or anxiety. Acrdg to a 2007 survey, stunts who intified as lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr were almost ten tim as likely to have experienced bullyg and victimizatn at school and more than twice as likely to have nsired suici as their heterosexual, non-transgenr classmat wh the prev year.

IF YOU’RE GAY, SHOULD YOU SEE A GAY THERAPIST?

Early edns of the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual (DSM) intified homosexualy as a mental disorr, until clil rearch monstrated sexual or romantic attractn to someone of the same genr is a normal, healthy, posive form of human sexualy. As the work proceeds, is revealed that John is out to his fay (who accepts him entirely) and publicly, while Paolo do not want his fay to know he is gay.

LGBTQ-affirmative therapists will be versed the negative effects of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and heteronormativy (the assumptn that heterosexualy is “normal” and superr) and help clients navigate the challeng they prent—as well as relatnship problems, fay tensn, or other day-to-day ncerns for which a client might seek are the advantag of seeg an LGBTQ-iendly therapist?

ISSU PSYCHOTHERAPY WH LBIAN AND GAY MEN: A SURVEY OF PSYCHOLOGISTS

But provirs, ually unlicensed, n often disguise the terms they e to avoid beg terms clu:Sexual attractn fluidy exploratn therapy (SAFE-T)Elimatg, rcg, or creasg equency or tensy of unwanted same-sex attractn (SSA)Reparative therapySexual reorientatn effortsEx-gay mistryPromotg healthy sexualyAddrsg sexual addictns and disorrsSexualy unselgEnuragg relatnal and sexual wholensHealg sexual brokennsConversn therapy techniqu n lead to feelg “ls than” or “damaged, ” impactg self-teem. A number of medil and mental health anizatns have issued public statements rejectg the e of nversn therapy bee of many provirs who claim to be qualified to provi nversn therapy are often not licensed mental health practners or medil study found that LGBTQ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or qutng) people who are rejected or discrimated agast are:8 tim more likely to report havg attempted suiciAlmost 6 tim more likely to report high levels of prsnMore than 3 tim as likely to e illegal dgs3 tim more likely to be at high risk of HIV and other STDsAcrdg to rearch, nearly 700, 000 LGBTQ adults the U. While there are some groups that try to "treat" homosexualy orr change , the gay therapy discsed this article refers to therapy signed to help someone al wh issu around their sexualy and not any way change .

SUCCSFUL TREATMENT TOOLS FOR WORKG WH GAY MEN THERAPY

People who are lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr or queer (LGBTQ, this article, simply referred to as "gay") seek help for many of the same issu that heterosexuals do. Issu like anxiety, prsn and addictn disorrs are known to be more prevalent gay dividuals (Homosexualy [LGBT] and Mental Health Issu) and gay issu are often lked to the ndns.

To e the TherapyTribe therapist search tool, select "Gay Lbian Issu" om the "I'm lookg for help wh" drop-down box and then enter your zip or postal and click Search. Addnally, a gay male therapist n spend time wh you talkg about shared gay muny norms, which n help you make cisns about what’s healthy for you and/or how you may want to modulate your behavr. Over the years I’ve worked wh gay male clients, I’ve found some men rentful of me based on ems that are important wh our muny: my succs, what I look like, my wardrobe, or—more signifintly—their assumptns about who I am based on their own projectns.

GAY THERAPY: HOW TO FD THE RIGHT GAY THERAPIST

Consirg seeg a therapist who isn’t gay n seem a ltle sry; gay men often make assumptns about a straight therapist’s level of fort wh the thgs the client wants to talk about. And fdg someone outsi of the gay muny who is fortable wh all aspects of a gay client’s life n be a profound and healg experience; I’ve often sent gay clients to non-gay therapists. From my pot of view, 's tertg to explore the assumptns gay men have about straight therapists, and the assumptns they make about how therapists view them.

And sce we don’t live isolatn, a straight therapist n brg a perspective to the table that a gay therapist might not—they n speak out of their experience as a parent, for example. They might enter therapy for the first time wh a gay male therapist bee on some levels, as we’ve seen, the unrstandg of the gay muny may make seem easier to talk to a gay man. At other tim, perhaps later life, a gay client may choose a different, straight therapist based on other creria that are important to that particular moment.

Even if a straight therapist has had few or no gay clients, they still might offer precisely what you need, and a rponse along the l of, “I haven’t had that many experienc, and maybe you’ll help me unrstand more” is actually pretty ial; you’ll both be engaged the procs.

THERAPY FOR GAY, LBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PERSONS

In 1984, a task force of the Amerin Psychologil Associatn (APA) Commtee on Lbian and Gay Concerns was charged wh vtigatg bias psychotherapy wh lbians and gay men.

In 1975, the Amerin Psychologil Associatn (APA) took a strong stance regardg bias toward lbians and gay men, rolvg that "homosexualy per se impli no impairment judgment, reliabily or general social and votnal abili" (see Appendix A for the full text of the rolutn).

GAY THERAPY CENTER ONLE THERAPY REVIEW

Regnizg that practice do not spontaneoly or quickly follow policy chang, the Commtee on Lbian and Gay Concerns (CLGC), sponsored jotly by the Board of Social and Ethil Rponsibily Psychology (BSERP) and the Board of Profsnal Affairs (BPA), formed a task force 1984 to vtigate the range of bias that may occur psychotherapy wh lbians and gay men. The missn of CLGC's Task Force on Bias Psychotherapy wh Lbians and Gay Men was to scribe the range of problems that gay male and lbian clients n face psychotherapy and to provi an empiril basis for the velopment of guil and suggtns for practice.

In addn to those relatively few psychologists who choose to specialize workg wh lbians and gay men, most nonspecialist therapists will also see gay male and lbian clients. Although the task force cid to approach issu of sexual orientatn as a generic tegory, there are doubtls many ways which the genr of a gay male or lbian client and the genr of the therapist may be to affect the psychotherapy experience. A full exploratn of this plex issue would require a reful parison of the therapy experienc of lbians vers gay men wh male vers female therapists, an unrtakg beyond the spe of this article.

Rponnts were asked whether they knew of Aany specific experienc of lbian or gay clients psychotherapy om iends or lleagu, om their own profsnal practice, or om their own experienc as a client psychotherapy. To obta a large and diverse sample of cril cints volvg both lbian and gay male clients psychotherapy, we soliced opns om a broad group of psychologists.

GAY THE RED-LIGHT DISTRICT? - AMSTERDAM FOM

The goal was to clu psychologists who, regardls of their own sexual orientatn, would be likely to have knowledge of the provisn of psychotheraptic servic to gay male and lbian clients, as well as gay male and lbian psychologists who may themselv have received psychotheraptic servic.

To ensure a rponse rate aquate for analysis, we ed 1986 APA membership rolls to survey all members, fellows, and associat of Divisns 44 (Society for the Psychologil Study of Gay and Lbian Issu) and 35 (Psychology of Women), and a random sample of 4, 000 licensed members of APA (balanced by genr) who were not members of eher of those divisns.

Nearly all of the psychotherapy provirs (99%), regardls of sexual orientatn, reported that they had seen at least one gay male or lbian client psychotherapy at some pot durg their reers.

THEY/THEM REVIEW: A SLASHER GO TO GAY CONVERSN CAMP CLEVER HORROR MOVIE

Among lbians and gay male practners, 71% specialized treatg homosexual clients, pared wh 42% of the bisexual provirs and only 9% of the heterosexual provirs. Task force members nsolidated the rults om the four separate work groups and anized all materials to three broad tegori: strategi of terventn, issu of special relevance to lbian and gay male populatns, and issu about therapists' expertise and trag.

In some stanc, the biased and beneficial them reprent oppose sis of the same issueCfor example, ntrastg a therapist's lack of knowledge about social prejudice agast gay men and lbians wh a therapist's special sensivy to social prejudice.