LGBT Affirmative Psychology: What It Is And What Is Its Therapeutic Function
For centuries, most human societies in the Western world have discriminated against many minorities depending on their sexual identity and gender identity. Today, although these discriminatory trends are decreasing, they continue to exist, although at the same time there is increasing awareness of the negative nature of this phenomenon.
At this meeting point between discrimination that declines and acceptance that rises, emerges LGBT affirmative psychology: a therapeutic perspective that invites both to care for the well-being of people exposed to attacks due to their sexual or gender identity, on the one hand, and to transform society so that the above is not necessary and everyone is treated equally .
Psychology is the science that studies behavior, but we must not forget that behavior also changes psychology itself. Therefore, it is normal that social transformations have meant that the point of view and purposes from which psychologists start have changed a lot in recent decades.
An example of this is the way in which raising awareness about the problems of LGBT groups has contributed to making psychology a richer and more useful tool to help a part of the population that continues to feel vulnerable in many aspects: lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans. Where decades ago there was a science that considered homosexuality as something intrinsically pathological, today there is one that does not label diseases to forms of sexual orientation or gender identity that deviate from heterosexuality and cisgender (i.e. of the conventional correspondence between sex and gender), and that at the same time recognizes that discrimination exposes these groups more to psychological problems, statistically.
In this way, affirmative psychology has emerged, a field of work that focuses on the needs of non-heterosexual and non-cisgender people. Its applied side, affirmative therapy aims to understand the mechanisms of the construction of LGBT identity and, based on them, help people with problems derived from discrimination and the social pressure linked to it.
Objectives of affirmative therapy
These are some of the goals frequently set by LGBT affirmative psychology when helping people who seek help.
1. Treatment of the consequences of homophobia and transphobia
Unfortunately, even in countries with higher rates of acceptance of homosexuality (such as Spain) and the trans community, attacks with physical or verbal violence are relatively common. Many times, these attacks occur even during childhood, in contexts of bullying, and reaching adulthood does not prevent similar situations from happening again.
This can facilitate the triggering of psychological disorders such as anxiety or depression, as well as body dysmorphic disorder. And beyond the physical wounds, going through these experiences contributes to not being happy with one’s own body, blaming oneself for what happened, socially isolating oneself and even having more doubts about one’s own identity.
Understanding what it means to go through this type of experience is essential to offering professional help to this type of victim, many of whom receive continuous attacks on a daily basis. And therefore, it is one of the goals of LGBT affirmative psychology.
Accompany and advise when deciding to be a mother or father
Motherhood and fatherhood are roles strongly mediated by social conventions; Therefore, it is normal to hear a lot of criticism about who should or should not have children, and about which parenting strategies are most useful and which are not. If we add to this the factor of sexual identity and gender identity, to this social pressure we must add the tendency to culturally discriminate against minorities who deviate from the norm on these issues, and the existence of legal and institutional barriers that continue to feed the idea that you can only have children if you are heterosexual and cisgender.
For this reason, psychologists can specialize in helping people who feel bad about the prospect of, firstly, having to choose whether or not to raise a baby, and secondly, dealing with the frustration and anxiety that often causes having a baby. to fight to get it.
Search for one’s own space in LGBT environments
We must not forget that LGBT is not homogeneous, and that even within the groups represented by this acronym there are several “social circles” or sub-collectives. Sometimes, the formation of these sub-categorizations responds to a tendency whose existence must be recognized: discrimination within LGBT groups themselves
This last factor can cause many people to experience difficulties in finding their place and their identity even in spaces where no one is heterosexual, for example. Although psychotherapy is not enough to solve this, it is also true that affirmative psychology can contribute both to avoiding completely unnecessary forms of discomfort, and to helping victims of discrimination be aware that They have nothing to hide and they must see these attacks as a social problem, not as a defect of them as individuals. In this way, we also contribute to making an environment predisposed to accepting non-conventional forms of sexuality and expression of gender identity truly inclusive.
Acceptance of one’s own identity
Finally, the process of accepting oneself helps people belonging to these minorities feel good about their identity most of the time, and not only do they not treat it as a taboo, but that normalize their existence and show it in their social relationships and in the expression of their sexuality
It is clear that much remains to be done at the cultural, institutional and political level so that LGBT groups cease to have a reason to exist due to the disappearance of discrimination However, part of the change also involves the spread of the culture of mutual care and acceptance, and these are precisely the pillars of affirmative psychology. For this reason, psychologists who can do their bit with our work in this area do so knowing that we are not only helping the individual who attends our consultation; We also invite the entire society to the therapeutic process.
