Internatnal OCD Foundatn | How Do I Know I’m Not Really Gay/Straight?

Contents:

• HAVE YOU EVER HAD GAY THOUGHTS?
• 'HOMOSEXUAL OCD': STRAIGHT MEN WHO SPECT THEY ARE GAY
• FEELG GUILTY ABOUT "GAY THOUGHTS"
• HOW DO I KNOW I’M NOT REALLY GAY/STRAIGHT?
• LONGEST GAY TEST!
• MEET THE STRAIGHT MEN WHO ARE TERRIFIED THEY ARE GAY
• YOU’RE NOT GAY: HOMOSEXUALY ANXIETY OCD

HAVE YOU EVER HAD GAY THOUGHTS?

I was talkg to my two iends about this and we discsed that we all had had gay thoughts and 2 of had even acted on you ever had gay thoughts? Have you ever acted out on homosexual relatns?

We thk everybody has some kd of gay si but society has always looked agast due to social nventn.

24, 2014— -- Steven Brodsky, a psychologist who specializ obssive-pulsive disorr, says that at any one time he has a "handful" of clients who are straight and spect that they are gay. J., said he had one adult patient who was so crippled by obssive thoughts about beg gay that he was unable to live penntly and had to move back wh his parents to pe. Brodsky said he termed his patient had OCD associated wh homosexualy.

'HOMOSEXUAL OCD': STRAIGHT MEN WHO SPECT THEY ARE GAY

Brodsky said a prev therapist had misdiagnosed his patient as gay, and at the patient's requt, sent him off to reparative therapy, a ntroversial method that has not been proven to be effective and n be harmful. "I have many gay clients and phobia is my bs, " he said. Even though they know that they are 100 percent straight, not gay, they send gus .

Ocsnally, a person learns they are gay. "I say, oh, that's tertg, how do you feel about beg gay and what n we do about that? "Brodsky argu that today's open acceptance of homosexualy and gay liftyl n bld therapists to this kd of anxiety disorr straight men.

Jack Drcher, a noted New York Cy psychiatrist who is nsired an expert gay and lbian mental health and treats patients for OCD, agreed that "beg worried that one might be gay is not the same thg as beg gay. ""A person wh OCD who has is havg tsive thoughts about whether or not he is gay, is not gay, the sense that he has not rporated a homosexual orientatn any mimally affirmg way to his inty, " said Drcher. "Also, if he is not actually attracted to people of the same sex, do not masturbate to fantasi of people of the same sex, is not really aroed by same sex pornography, then is hard to make the se that he has a homosexual orientatn.

FEELG GUILTY ABOUT "GAY THOUGHTS"

Another was heterosexual and feared he had agreed wh Brodsky that some therapists may miss an OCD diagnosis, but "the most likely e of that is not that they are too gay-affirmg but that they lack trag regnizg the symptoms of OCD. Brodsky said that a gay person has "pleasant associatn" wh same-sex attractn and a person wh OCD do not.

HOW DO I KNOW I’M NOT REALLY GAY/STRAIGHT?

"Repeatedly, anxly, reviewg past suatns, ttg themselv, askg for reassurance, pulsively rearchg the Inter for gay tts, ttg themselv wh gay porn or gay people. A gay person don't go through this battle.

""Someone who is gay, but the closet, is not spendg time rearchg and ttg themselv, " he said.

LONGEST GAY TEST!

Gay people are not lookg for any kd of external validatn. "Havg an obssn about beg gay is no different om any other mental obssn, said Brodsky. "A iend might say somethg and they thk, 'Gee, I uld be gay or I am dog somethg a gay person would do.

"Certaly that do not make them gay, " he said. "The obssive thoughts are not rooted homophobia, acrdg to Brodsky. "Maybe they were abed as a kid or heard 'gay' as a tnt.

MEET THE STRAIGHT MEN WHO ARE TERRIFIED THEY ARE GAY

"As for treatment, Brodsky said he would help a patient who was tly gay validate their feelgs and atta self-acceptance, "achievg lm and peace of md. You might take some fort knowg that both your same-sex mutual masturbatn experience, and your "gay thoughts" when masturbatg alone, are shared by many. Some younger and olr men feel strongly about publicly intifyg themselv, some way, as gay, straight, or bi, while others are ntent wh livg their happy liv private.

In orr to have doubts about one’s sexual inty, a sufferer need not ever have had a homo- or heterosexual experience, or any type of sexual experience at all. If the sufferer is heterosexual, then the thought may be that they are homosexual.

If on the other hand they happen to be homosexual they may obss about the possibily that they might really be straight. ” Some people’s doubts are further plited by havg such experienc as hearg other people talkg or lookg their directn and thkg that the people mt be analyzg their behavr or appearance and talkg about them – discsg how they mt be gay (or straight).

YOU’RE NOT GAY: HOMOSEXUALY ANXIETY OCD

For those wh thoughts of beg homosexual, part of the distrs mt surely be social orig. Let’s face , gay people have always been an opprsed mory wh our culture, and to sudnly thk of beg this posn, and to be stigmatized this way, n be ighteng.

I have sometim wonred if those who experience the most distrs om such thoughts as the do so bee they were raised wh more strongly homophobic or anti-gay attus to beg wh, or if is simply bee one’s sexualy n be such a basic doubt. Lookg at attractive men or women, or pictur of them, or readg sexually oriented lerature or pornography (hetero- or homosexual), to see if they are sexually excg. Observg themselv for evince of “lookg, ” talkg, walkg, drsg, or gturg like someone who is eher gay or straight.