Healing sexuality: Case Stories of Reparative Therapy

undefined

Review ------ Dr. Nicolosi has abandoned the neutral posture of classical psychoanalysts and treats only those men who wish to give up sexuality. An independent thinker, he has gone against the current fashion of promoting the unsubstantiated, unverifiable opinionthat sexuality is genetic, or preferred, or simply another way of loving. He has produced a book whose clarity, simplicity, and honesty will be of real value to the public and professionals alike.... (Toby Bieber Ph.D.) This inful and readable book will help therapists and patients alike. Today, Gay Affirmative Therapy rightly demands respect for patients' own goals. In that spirit, one must respect some gay men's unhappiness with their identities and lifestyles. Reparative therapy, as the author says, does not explain all sexuality, and it is not right for all gay men, but it can allow some to cl what they desire. What is repaired is self-esteem and relatedness to others.... (Arno Karlen, author of Sexuality and sexuality) For many reasons, Dr. Nicolosi's Healing sexuality is uplifting for the mental field. It is compelling support for those who continue to see sexuality in the realm of treatable clinical conditions. It is supportive of psychoanalytic understanding and therapy for sexuality that is based on 80-plus years of research into the causation of this clinical condition. It offers hope to the many thousands of gay men and women who seek from their sexuality. And it invigorates thenecessary dialogue among those for whom the issue of sexuality remains in contention... (Benjamin Kaufman, M.D.) This book should be required reading for anyone treating sexuals (including gay therapists). It offers hope to many sexuals who may have succumbed to despair. It enlightens in a highly readable, page-turning form those already familiar with some of the dynamics of the condition as well as the methods most effective for its amelioration and cure.... (Charles W. Socarides, M.D.) Read more ( javascript:void(0) ) From the Back Cover ------------------- In 1973, when all the arguments were presented to the American Psychiatric Association both for and against the idea of sexuality as pathology, it was the personal disclosures of gay men that had the most influence. Listening to their stories of frustration in - and their newfound happiness through acceptance of a gay identity - the American Psychiatric Association voted to omit sexuality as a diagnostic category. Now, twenty years later, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi presents the site kind of personal testimony. This testimony is from sexual men who have tried to accept a gay identity but were dissatisfied, and then benefited from psychotherapy to help free them of sexuality. While each client has his unique story. Nicolosi has chosen eight men as representative of the personalities he has encountered in the twelve years during which he has treated over 200 sexual clients. These men are engaged in a "two-front war" - an internal assault against their own unwanted desires, and an external battle against a popular culture that does not understand or value their struggle. In their own words, we hear these men's struggles to develop y, non-erotic male friendships. We hear of their fear and anger toward the men in their lives, and their strained relationships with the hers they never understood. Nicolosi contends that every man possesses aspects of these clients: the frailty of Albert, the integrity of Charlie, the rage of Dan, the narcissism of Steve, and the ambivalence of Roger, to list some of them. Some readers of this book may be surprised by the directive style of Dr. Nicolosi's therapeutic intervention. In part, this is due to the editorial synthesisof the transcript. More importantly, however, reparative therapy does require a more involved therapist - a benevolent provocateur who departs from the tradition of uninvolved, opaque analyst to become a salient male presence. The therapist must balance active challenge with warm encouragement to follow the her-son model. This is an essential principle of reparative therapy. Read more ( javascript:void(0) ) See all Editorial Reviews ( /dp/product-description/0876683405/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&isInIframe=0 )