Full Description
This book illuminates the unique needs of gay male couples in therapy and provides a practical framework for clinical intervention. The authors review the basic principles of structural family therapy and guide therapists in adapting treatment goals and interventions to better serve gay clients. Addressed are the universal issues faced by all couples in therapy, gay and straight, as well as the particular challenges gay men face in building nurturing, intimate relationships in a homophobic society. Extensive case examples and session transcripts are used to illustrate effective strategies for helping clients affirm the strength of their union, even in the absence of familial and social support; learn to resolve differences constructively; and overcome culturally conditioned barriers to connection and trust.
Contents
1. The Marginalization of Gay Male Couples
2. Implications for Man-to-Man Closeness from Growing Up Gay
3. An Overview of Structural Family Therapy
4. Joining with Male Couples
5. Enactments: Identifying Complementary Roles
6. Unbalancing: Discovering New Steps
7. A Case Study: Male Couples and Connectedness
8. Toward the Future
References
Index
