Can Someone Be Homosexual and Not Gay? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• 'HOMOSEXUAL OCD': STRAIGHT MEN WHO SPECT THEY ARE GAY
• HELP:I AM NOT GAY BUT THE THOUGHTS WONT GO AWAY.................
• HOW DO I KNOW I’M NOT REALLY GAY/STRAIGHT?
• CAN SOMEONE BE HOMOSEXUAL AND NOT GAY?
• MEET THE STRAIGHT MEN WHO ARE TERRIFIED THEY ARE GAY
• HOCD; GAY OR STRAIGHT OR OCD?
• I LIKE GUYS BUT I DON’T WANT TO BE GAY. HOW DO I STOP BEG GAY?
• FEELG GUILTY ABOUT "GAY THOUGHTS"

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

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 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. "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.

HELP:I AM NOT GAY BUT THE THOUGHTS WONT GO AWAY.................

""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. 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.

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

Brodsky said that a gay person has "pleasant associatn" wh same-sex attractn and a person wh OCD do not.

CAN SOMEONE BE HOMOSEXUAL AND NOT GAY?

"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.

MEET THE STRAIGHT MEN WHO ARE TERRIFIED THEY ARE GAY

""Someone who is gay, but the closet, is not spendg time rearchg and ttg themselv, " he said. "A iend might say somethg and they thk, 'Gee, I uld be gay or I am dog somethg a gay person would do. "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.

HOCD; GAY OR STRAIGHT OR OCD?

I even was nvced that i was a women a mans body and that is why i have been havg the gay thoughts. 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 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). 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.

I LIKE GUYS BUT I DON’T WANT TO BE GAY. HOW DO I STOP BEG GAY?

Observg themselv for evince of “lookg, ” talkg, walkg, drsg, or gturg like someone who is eher gay or straight. Compulsively reviewg and analyzg past teractns wh other men or women to see if they have acted like a gay or straight person.

FEELG GUILTY ABOUT "GAY THOUGHTS"

Readg articl on the ter about how an dividual n tell if they are gay or straight to see which group they might be most siar to. Can you sudnly turn to a homosexual (or heterosexual) even if you have never felt or acted that that way?

If I get sexual sensatns when viewg sexual material of an oppose orientatn do mean I am gay (or straight)? A typil example would be a heterosexual man who experienc an erectn while lookg at gay eroti.