3. Self Disclosure in the Gay Analyst, Straight Patient Dyad:
A View from Intersubjectivity
Presenter: |
Michael S. Keren, PsyD |
Chair: |
Jeffrey L. Trop, MD |
Self Psychology Page | 22nd Conference Program
Summary
The topic of self-disclosure is currently enjoying a central position in psychoanalysis. While most of the discussion has been focused on "counter-transference disclosure", a small portion of this literature has examined what Mitchell (1998) refers to as the "emergence of features of the analyst’s life". One such feature that has received some examination as it has emerged in therapeutic dyads is that of sexual orientation. Traditionally, this has focused on gay male or lesbian therapists coming out to their gay male or lesbian patients. Recently, some attention has been paid to the issue of straight therapist’s reactions to their gay or lesbian patients (McWilliams, 1996; Solomon, 1997). Until recently, there has been no attention paid to the gay analyst/straight patient dyad.
This paper attempts to address this lack in the literature. I will begin with a brief and selective review of the literature related to self-disclosure. I follow this with a look at the relevant literature around coming out, both professionally and to patients, as I believe they are intertwined. I will then present a clinical vignette which illustrates my process of exploration and understanding as I considered the therapeutic effect of coming out as a gay man to my straight female patient. This disclosure served as the gate to the opening exploration of several key organizing patterns in the patient’s life, as well as highlighting key issues in the patient’s sense of her own sexual self.
Michael S. Keren, PsyD
Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity
New York, NY