Sexual Inty, Stigma, and Deprsn: the Role of the "Anti-gay Propaganda Law" Mental Health among Men Who Have Sex wh Men Mosw, Rsia - PubMed

Contents:

• LGBTQ+ AFFIRMG THERAPISTS ILLOIS
• LGBTQ+ AFFIRMG THERAPISTS ATLANTA, GA
• ISSU PSYCHOTHERAPY WH LBIAN AND GAY MEN: A SURVEY OF PSYCHOLOGISTS
• DR. ROBIN GAY
• LGBTQ+ AFFIRMG THERAPISTS INDIANAPOLIS, IN
• DR. RICHARD L GAY GRAYLG, MI
• RICHARD L. GAY, PHD
• ROB GAY, PHD
• ROB K. GAY, PHD
• DR. ROB K GAY WORCTER, MA
• SEXUAL INTY, STIGMA, AND DEPRSN: THE ROLE OF THE "ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA LAW" MENTAL HEALTH AMONG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN MOSW, RSIA

LGBTQ+ AFFIRMG THERAPISTS ILLOIS

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?

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). The APA urged psychologists "to take the lead removg the stigma of mental illns long associated wh homosexual orientatns" (Conger, 1975).

LGBTQ+ AFFIRMG THERAPISTS ATLANTA, GA

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.

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

The survey was veloped to elic stanc of biased re as well as exampl of beneficial re provid to gay male and lbian clients.

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. 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.

DR. ROBIN GAY

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.

LGBTQ+ AFFIRMG THERAPISTS INDIANAPOLIS, IN

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.

DR. RICHARD L GAY GRAYLG, MI

Only 1% of service provirs had never worked wh gay male or lbian clients, and 38% had seen more than 20 such dividuals their reers. 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.

RICHARD L. GAY, PHD

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. A therapist fails to regnize that a client's psychologil symptoms or distrs n be fluenced by the client's own negative attus or ias about homosexualy:.

Therapists' outright nial that a client has experienced societal homophobia or therapists' failure to regnize ternalized homophobia as a source of prsn and low self-teem.

I have seen several gay patients and each se the person reported that even though their prev therapist said that he or she accepted their homosexualy; the therapist ntued to foc upon their beg gay as the problem rather than upon what the person sought help for such as relatnship problems, trouble handlg guilt about wh fay or work, general social anxiety, or other problems totally unrelated to beg gay. A therapist disurag a client om havg or adoptg a lbian or gay orientatn, mak the renunciatn of one's homosexualy a ndn of treatment, or the absence of a requt by the client seeks to change the sexual orientatn of the client:.

ROB GAY, PHD

A therapist kept sistg that a client had latent heterosexual orientatn which should be brought out stead of acceptg the client's stated preference for homosexual relatns. Upon disclosure of homosexualy, a therapist abptly transfers a client whout provisn of appropriate referrals to the client or assistance wh the emotnal difficulti associated wh the transfer:. A therapist lacks unrstandg of the nature of lbian and gay male inty velopment, for example by nsirg a gay male or lbian inty possible only for adults, by viewg lbian or gay male inty solely terms of sexual behavr, or by terpretg a client's gay male or lbian inty as a Aphase that will be outgrown:.

ROB K. GAY, PHD

A therapist do not sufficiently take to acunt the extent to which lbian or gay male inty velopment is plited by the client's own negative attus toward homosexualy:. A therapist unrtimat the possible nsequenc of a gay male or lbian client's disclosure of his or her homosexualy to others, for example to relativ or employers:. A lbian iend told me about a male therapist who tried to nvce a young gay man (18-20) to e out to his parents--even though his parents were likely to be abive.

DR. ROB K GAY WORCTER, MA

A therapist unrtimat the importance of timate relatnships for gay men and lbians, for example by failg to support the matenance of or enuragg dissolutn of a client's relatnship solely bee is a homosexual relatnship, or by failg to provi or remend upl or fay therapy when would be the most appropriate terventn:. A gay male uple seekg assistance wh hibed sexual sire on the part of one told the problem dited the one partner probably really wasn't gay and that the remend terventn was to break up their relatnship.

A lbian uple, seekg relatnship therapy, was advised that such therapy was not applible to their "type of relatnship, " that should not be nsired a permanent relatnship, and that they might nsir gog to gay bars to meet other people like themselv.

A therapist is sensive to the nature and diversy of lbian and gay male relatnships and appropriately a heterosexual ame of reference:. A therapist prum a client is a poor or appropriate parent solely on the basis of a gay or lbian sexual orientatn, for example by tomatilly attributg a child's problems to his or her parent(s) beg lbian or gay whout evince that this is so, or by opposg child ctody to such parents on the grounds that their sexual orientatn self mak them unf:.

SEXUAL INTY, STIGMA, AND DEPRSN: THE ROLE OF THE "ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA LAW" MENTAL HEALTH AMONG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN MOSW, RSIA

A therapist is sensive to or unrtimat the effects of prejudice and discrimatn on lbian and gay male parents and their children:. A therapist lacks knowledge or expertise, or reli unduly on the client to te the therapist about gay male and lbian issu:.

I have heard om clients of aquate re om therapists who claim unrstandg of the problems that are faced but who, fact, are que naive about the problems and offer rather sophomoric solutns applible to heterosexual suatns. Some have been so poorly rmed about the liftyle that their dismay of the way gays/lbians are treated, they have Abent nfinc and e dangeroly close to exposg their clients. In an tnal ntext, a therapist teach rmatn about lbians or gay men that is accurate or prejudiced, or actively discrimat agast gay male and lbian stunts or lleagu:.