Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man - Softcover

Drescher, Jack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0881633674 ISBN 13: 9780881633672

Publisher: Routledge, 2001

Synopsis

Do the conventional insights of depth psychology have anything to offer the gay patient?  Can contemporary psychoanalytic theory be used to make sense of gay identities in ways that are helpful rather than hurtful, respectful rather than retraumatizing?  In Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man Jack Drescher addresses these very questions as he outlines a therapeutic approach to issues of sexual identity that is informed by traditional therapeutic goals (such as psychological integration and more authentic living) while still respecting, even honoring, variations in sexual orientation.
    
Drescher's exploration of the subjectivities of gay men in psychoanalytic psychotherapy is more than a long-overdue corrective to the inadequate and often pathologizing tomes of traditional psychoanalytic writers.  It is a vitally human testament to the richly varied inner experiences of gay men.  Drescher does not assume that sexual orientation is the entire or even major focus of intensive psychotherapy.  But he does argue, passionately and convincingly, that issues of sexual identity - which encompass a spectrum of possibilities for any gay man - must be addressed in an atmosphere of honest encounter that allows not only for exploration of conflict and dissociation but also for restitutive confirmation of the patient's right to be himself.
   
Through its abundance of first-person testimony from both clinical and literary sources, Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man provides the reader with an unforgettable grasp of what it is like to discover that one is gay in our society and then to find the courage and humanity to live with that knowledge.  Any mental health professional - regardless of his or her sexual orientation - who wishes to deal therapeutically with gay men will find Drescher's work indispensable.  But it will also be compelling reading for anyone seeking psychological insight into gay men's lives and concerns. 

About this title

About the Author:

Jack Drescher, M.D. is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Fellow and Trustee of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis. He is a Faculty Member and Supervisor at the William Alanson White Institute, he is a member of the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry and of The American College of Psychiatrists. (Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy, Dr. Drescher is in private practice in New York City.)

Review:

"Dr. Drescher's study is more than just an outstanding book about psychodynamic therapy of gay men. It is a brilliant review of the entire subject of male homosexuality, beautifully written, thoughtfully researched, and constructively insightful. I recommend it highly." -- Judd Marmor, M.D.; Franz Alexander Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus, USC School of Medicine

"Jack Drescher has comprehensively gathered and usefully interpreted a vast amount of material relating to psychoanalytic therapy and gay men. His book is a measure of the huge distance the therapeutic community has come over the past several decades in its compassionate understanding of same-gender relationships - and is itself a significant contribution to further progress." ( Martin Duberman, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor of History, CUNY, and author of Cures and Midlife Queer)

"Psychoanalysis is in the process of emerging from a dark age in which understandings and clinical approaches to homosexuality were driven by deep fears and pervaded by utter nonsense. Jack Drescher's Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man is an important contribution to that emergence. He explores key dimensions of the experiences and struggles of gay men, in terms of both what is known and also what is not known, in a frank and lucid manner. This book will be invaluable to any clinician working with gay men, not so much as a guide for what to do, but, more important, as a guide for what to think about and struggle with. It will also be of interest to anyone interested in the complexities of all sexualities in our time." (Stephen A. Mitchell, Ph.D. Editor, Psychoanalytic Dialogues)

"Dr. Drescher's study is more than just an outstanding book about psychodynamic therapy of gay men. It is a brilliant review of the entire subject of male homosexuality, beautifully written, thoughtfully researched, and constructively insightful. I recommend it highly." (Judd Marmor, M.D. Franz Alexander Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus, USC School of Medicine)

Additional (postpublication) endorsements:

"Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man is a wonderfully written, warmly engaging, and admirably comprehensive discussion not just of treatment issues but, more generally, of the psychological development of gay men in contemporary society. It is the one book that is an absolute 'must' for all of working with sexuality and the life-cycle." (Bertram Cohler, Ph.D. The University of Chicago)

"Therapists working with gay patients will find in Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man a vital clinical resource. It provides solidly knowledgeable, highly readable discussions of psychoanalytic developmental theory and its limitations as well as a generous bounty of compelling clinical illustrations, the "unofficial stories" of patients exploring their individual developmental narratives, sexual experiences, and anxieties about relationships and identity. Among its many riches are Drescher's insightful discussion of the dissociative processes sometimes necessary in gay lives, his refreshing inclusion of the perspectives of Harry Stack Sullivan, and his provocative examination of the countertransference difficulties of talking about sex." -- Maggie Magee and Diana C. Miller, Authors, Lesbian Lives: Psychoanalytic Narratives Old and New

"Psychoanalysis is in the process of emerging from a dark age in which understandings and clinical approaches to homosexuality were driven by deep fears and pervaded by utter nonsense. Jack Drescher's Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man is an important contribution to that emergence. He explores key dimensions of the experiences and struggles of gay men, in terms of both what is known and also what is not known, in a frank and lucid manner. This book will be invaluable to any clinician working with gay men, not so much as a guide for what to do, but, more important, as a guide for what to think about and struggle with. It will also be of interest to anyone interested in the complexities of all sexualities in our time." -- Stephen A. Mitchell, Ph.D.; Editor, Psychoanalytic Dialogues

"Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man is a wonderfully written, warmly engaging, and admirably comprehensive discussion not just of treatment issues but, more generally, of the psychological development of gay men in contemporary society. It is the one book that is an absolute 'must' for all of us working with sexuality and the life-cycle." -- Bertram Cohler, Ph.D., The University of Chicago

"Therapists working with gay patients will find in Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man a vital clinical resource. It provides solidly knowledgeable, highly readable discussions of psychoanalytic developmental theory and its limitations as well as a generous bounty of compelling clinical illustrations, the "unofficial stories" of patients exploring their individual developmental narratives, sexual experiences, and anxieties about relationships and identity. Among its many riches are Drescher's insightful discussion of the dissociative processes sometimes necessary in gay lives, his refreshing inclusion of the perspectives of Harry Stack Sullivan, and his provocative examination of the countertransference difficulties of talking about sex." -- Maggie Magee and Diana C. Miller, Authors, Lesbian Lives: Psychoanalytic Narratives Old and New

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0881633674
• ISBN 13: 9780881633672
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384