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13 - Psychological issues faced by gay men

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2009

By
Peter E. Kassel  and
Stephen Knowlton
Edited by
Kenneth Citron ,
Marie Josée Brouillette  and
Alexandra Beckett
Peter E. Kassel
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, Staff Psychologist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Medical Department, Private Practice in Brookline, MA, USA
Stephen Knowlton
Affiliation:
Licensed Psychologist, Private Practice in Somerville and Boston, MA, USA
Marie Josée Brouillette
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Alexandra Beckett
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
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Summary

Introduction

In Western culture, many of those with HIV infection are gay men. To help psychiatrists better understand the psychological context of their gay patients, this chapter:

  • reviews historical and contemporary theories of gay male development, discusses psychoanalytic theory of male homosexuality, presents a critique of certain aspects of more traditional psychodynamic theory, and discusses newer theories

  • describes the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity

  • discusses the impact of growing up gay on psychological development, paying particular attention to: poor self-esteem and internalized homophobia, and their relationship to shame and widespread inhibition; the impairment of normal relational development and the splitting off of sexuality from relationships; the particular importance of adolescence in gay male development; and the palliative effects of new opportunities that arise for many gay men during adult development.

Review of psychoanalytic theory

Throughout his career, Freud thought and wrote about male homosexuality (e.g., Freud, 1905, 1922, 1935), exploring the topic from a number of different perspectives. He saw homosexuality as reflecting arrested psychosexual development in the context of the constitutional bisexuality of all humans, and thus as somewhat pathological. Freud also conflated the concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity (discussed at greater length below). However, his attitude remained humane and measured.

Subsequent psychoanalytic thinkers, culminating with many active in the USA after the Second World War, such as Irving Bieber (1962) and Charles Socarides (1968, 1978), assumed increasingly homophobic stances.

Type
Chapter
Information
HIV and Psychiatry
Training and Resource Manual
 , pp. 204 - 216
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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