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1. Statistical Deviation

Counsellors/psychologists who are against homosexuality may use statistical deviation as a criteria for abnormal behavior. This means whatever that occur most frequently in the population is seen as normal; and abnormal behavior is seen as those that occur least frequently.

Problems:

Ethnic and racial minorities would then be deemed “abnormal”. If you have quirks (i.e. you like to eat peanut butter in Chinese soup or you have a body FULL of tattoos)… you are abnormal. Does that call for treatment then?

2. Deviations from ideal mental health

This is proposed by humanistic psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. This means that there is some important goal to attain i.e. self-actualization. Others have put forth components of maturity, such as competence, autonomy etc.

Problems:

Which goal should be used? That is arbitrary, depending on the counsellor’s frame of reference. The goals are also vague, allowing complete interpretation by counsellors- hence the danger of having the religious values of counsellors imposed on clients. (Note: “Client” here means “anyone who seeks help”.) For example: what exactly is maturity? There is no agreement of its specifics. Is “maturity” being able to deal with the stress that some bigots in our life bring? Or is “maturity” subjecting yourself to what others say (and suppressing yourself accordingly)?

3. Discomfort, Deviance and Dysfunction

“Discomfort” refers to physical or psychological discomfort. Examples of physical discomforts are asthma, hypertension, fatigue, nausea, pain in your body and heart palpitations. Examples of psychological discomforts are prolonged anxiety and depression.

Problems with “discomfort” criteria: The problem is… many counsellors of certain religious values would tell you that you are depressed and anxious BECAUSE you are homosexual. BUT, if you are depressed or anxious because you face stress from people in your life spheres (i.e. co-workers at the workplace) for being gay, it is NOT your homosexuality that is causing you problems. The ROOT is homophobia. Why do i say that? Because there are homosexuals out there who are NOT depressed and not anxious, who have learned to handle different stressors.

The truth is: everyone, queer or straight, face stressors. You will be better off learning to resist them (people who endorse homophobia); learning to question their fundamentals and finding out more about what homosexuality is. In the process of growing and loving yourself, you will emerge much stronger.

“Deviance” refers to Bizarre/unusual behavior that is an abnormal deviation from an accepted standard of behavior or a false perception of reality (i.e. hallucination).

Problems with “Deviance” criteria: It is subjective, up to the values of the helper. Besides, social norms are constantly changing. For example, inter-race marriages were considered immoral by the church about 50 years ago. Today, it is no longer the case. 200 years ago, white women were second class creatures, deemed as inadequate for proper schooling. Today, our women are attending school, craving out careers and contributing to society, by utilising the brains that rest on their shoulders.

“Dysfunction” refers to loss of efficiency in performing the responsibilities and duties of a role. In our everday life, examples of the roles we play are: students, engineers (or whatever your occupation), lovers, friends etc. There are no stated problems that i know of at this point.

4. The integrated approach

This approach defines what is abnormal from 3 perspectives:
ONE: Society’s
TWO: Individual’s
THREE: Mental health professionals’

Problems with Society’s perspective on its own:
Individuals are deemed “abnormal” if their behaviors or beliefs violate the prevailing wisdom of that time. For example: Hilter declared the Jews as abnormal. African Americans who tried to escape their slavery were diagnosed with “drapetomania”- which is the sickness that make people desire freedom. It seems that the masochistics of today would be deemed normal in that era.

Problems with Individual’s perspective on its own:
People who murder may not feel a sense of guilt, despite inflicting harm on others. This is a good rule- if you are hurting someone, but you feel nothing, you qualify as sick.

Problems with Mental health professional’s perspective on its own:
1. Your mental health professional (i.e. your counsellor or whoever is ‘helping’ you) may be biased in presenting knowledge to you- especially if they are of a certain religious slant. In that case, they will purposely not equip you with public, current knowledge that runs counter to their personal values.
2. Helpers may also be outdated and not know what is the best therapy.
3. Lastly, they may be unqualified for your specific condition i.e. the condition is not what they specialized in.

Any combination of these 3 limitations of mental health professionals�is possible. The best information you can get is not what a few mental health professionals say… but what MAJOR mental health organizations say. (You can start with the American Psychiatric Association. Refer to post on “Reparative therapy” to know the a brief history of homosexuality in abnormal psychology.)

**I think the eclectic approach is taking everything into consideration- knowing what are the pros and cons of each. The bottomline is: if you are totally not functioning well at all, get help. Find out the therapies available from both gay-friendly agencies (and gay-hostile agencies like Liberty league if you are indeed so confused). Equip yourself with information.

But know this: homosexuality is not the problem causing your misery/depression/anxiety. If homosexuality is the problem, then all�homosexuals should face similar problems;�all should be malfunctioning to a large degree.

——————————————————
Resource for conceptual framework:
Sue D, Sue D. W.�& Sue S. (2003). Understanding Abnormal Behavior. 7th Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, New York.

Comments   

# pleinelunee 2010-02-02 20:19
#

pleinelune said,

January 31, 2006 at 11:20 am

Ditto! Down with ex-gay groups!
Reply
# jadee 2010-02-02 20:19
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jade said,

January 31, 2006 at 11:48 pm

down with ex-gay groups? everyone has a right to express what they believe in. we can’t condemn anyone who what they believe in, or we become as “bad” (isn’t that how we see them) as them.
Reply
# Mier 2010-02-02 20:19
#

Mier said,

February 1, 2006 at 1:09 pm

Well Jade, i suggest you read the post on reparative therapy. It talks about how the right to believe in what one believe in… can be BAD…

Say.. if someone is suicidal, and he wants to commit suicide, do we allow him to believe so, take it as normal???

People with body images starved themselves to DEATH, yet they believe that being extremely thin is gorgeous. And they set up sites promoting an exceeding thin body image- do we say… yes, let’s allow it? Let them do what they want… and kill themselves.

I am not against people who want to change (that means i am not condemning the people).
But they got to see WHY they want to change (i am condemning the flawed premise their beliefs are based on).
If the reason is based on something fallacious i.e. homosexuals are depressed or psychotic people, then there is NO solid basis to change. Because they are NOT psychotic people.

Most times, ex-gays are “ex” because of some fear- esp pressure from fundamentalist�Christian groups. Fear! It is fear that propels change. Now we have to see if this fear is well-founded. And most times, such fears are not.

If you are Christian, and you wish to study and discuss the scriptures, i suggest you take it to the forum. =)

Since�homosexuality is not the sickness… then cure should NOT be directed at it.
Reply
# mokambe 2010-02-02 20:20
#

please as a new comer into the us can I be help out of sicness » mokambe said,

March 15, 2006 at 10:58 pm

[...] Why Homosexuality is NOT a Mental Sickness [...]
Reply

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