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Treating the bisexual client
Author(s) -
Dworkin Sari H.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.1036
Subject(s) - lesbian , psychology , sexual identity , identity (music) , homosexuality , gender identity , male homosexuality , sexual orientation , face (sociological concept) , psychotherapist , sexual minority , transgender , coming out , social psychology , developmental psychology , gender studies , human sexuality , psychoanalysis , sociology , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , medicine , men who have sex with men , social science , physics , syphilis , family medicine , acoustics
Abstract Therapists, having recently come to terms with treating gay and lesbian clients, now must consider the issues that bisexual clients face. This article reviews the literature on what it means to identify as bisexual in a world where sexual identity is viewed as dichotomous, heterosexual at one end and gay or lesbian at the other end. The article explores sexual identity and its biological versus social origins, internalized biphobia, coming out, relationship patterns, and therapist issues. Two cases illustrate issues that might arise when a therapist is treating a bisexual client. The first case is a 17‐year‐old young woman who is accepting of her bisexual identity, and the second case is a 56‐year‐old woman, heterosexually identified and married, who suddenly fell in love with a woman. Concluding remarks focus on some future directions for research and work with bisexual clients. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session 57: 671–680, 2001.