Gay Affirmative Psychotherapy - Guidelines

Guidelines

Countering psychiatry over the past hundred years that saw homosexuality to be a mental illness, current guidelines instead encourage psychotherapists to assist patients in overcoming the stigma of homosexuality rather than the sexual orientation. Because some mental health professionals are unfamiliar with the social difficulties of the coming out process, particular to other factors such as age, race, ethnicity, or religious affiliation, they are encouraged by the APA to learn more about how gay, lesbian, and bisexual clients face discrimination in its various forms. Many gays and lesbians are rejected from their own families and form their own familial relationships and support systems that may also be unfamiliar to mental health professionals, who are encouraged to take into account the diversity of extended relationships in lieu of family. For some clients, acting on same-sex attraction may not be a fulfilling solution as it may conflict with their religious beliefs; licensed mental health providers may approach such a situation by neither rejecting nor promoting celibacy.