Sexual Orientation and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Sexual Science and Clinical Practice - Softcover

Friedman, Richard; Downey, Jennifer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231120575 ISBN 13: 9780231120579

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2008

Synopsis

This book bridges psychoanalytic thought and sexual science. It brings sexuality back to the center of psychoanalysis and shows how important it is for students of human sexuality to understand motives that are often irrational and unconscious. The authors present a new perspective about male and female development, emphasizing the ways in which sexual orientation and homophobia appear early in life. The clinical section of the book focuses on the psychodynamics and treatment of homophobia and internalized homophobia.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard C. Friedman, M.D., is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Weill Medical College, Cornell University, and a lecturer at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is the author of Male Homosexuality: A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspective.Jennifer I. Downey, M.D., is clinical professor of psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is the editor, with Richard C. Friedman, of Masculinity and Sexuality: Selected Topics in the Psychology of Men.Friedman and Downey have coauthored numerous articles on psychoanalysis and sexuality. They are psychoanalysts in private practice in New York City.

Review:

[H]ighly recommended because it presents a broad and encompassing view of current neurobiological research into sexual orientation. Further, it highlights in considerable detail a number of noteworthy, complicated clinical issues such as internalized homophobia, disclosure of the therapist's sexual orientation, the power of sexual fantasy, and gender development. (Robert F. Tyminski Journal of Analytical Psychology)

[Friedman and Downey] have effectively documented the carnage caused by the current antagonism toward homosexual relations in males. (Michael Ferguson Journal of Homosexuality)

Friedman and Downey not only make an important contribution to psychoanalysis; they have in addition begun the process of making psychoanalytic therapy relevant to the treatment of homosexual individuals.... It would be difficult to think of any other recent book that makes such an important contribution to the revision of psychoanalytic theory while advancing the therapeutic potential of psychoanalysis in the treatment of gay and lesbian individuals. (Henry J. Friedman American Psychoanalytic Association)

The most clear thinking, completely erudite, and unbiased presentation of sexual research... that has yet been written. (Roman N. Anshin, M.D. American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry)

[Richard C. Friedman and Jennifer I. Downey] have been at the forefront of the movement within psychoanalysis challenging previously orthodox ideas.... Friedman and Downey accurately discuss the dangers of psychoanalytic theorizing divorced from basic science and insist on a systems approach to human sexuality that integrates clinical and theoretical understanding. (American Journal of Psychiatry)

A fascinating book.... A vital contribution to the ongoing dialogue about how sexual desire arises from the interplay of human constitution and the human proclivity for love, fantasy and sexual expression. (Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease)

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0231120575
• ISBN 13: 9780231120579
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 363