Premium
Counselors' Attitudes Toward Homosexuality: A Selective Review of the Literature
Author(s) -
RUDOLPH JAMES
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of counseling and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1556-6676
pISSN - 0748-9633
DOI - 10.1002/j.1556-6676.1988.tb02083.x
Subject(s) - homosexuality , contradiction , psychology , male homosexuality , mental health , social psychology , psychotherapist , psychoanalysis , medicine , epistemology , family medicine , men who have sex with men , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , philosophy , syphilis
A selective review of counselors' and psychotherapists' attitudes toward homosexuality is presented. Analysis of the patterns emerging from published survey literature reveals considerable division and contradiction in the attitudes reported. The author proposes the source of such inconsistency to be the mixed messages mental health personnel receive from their professional organizations, which affirm gay self‐determination, and society‐at‐large, which is generally gay‐negating. Recommendations are offered for practitioners working with homosexual clients.