Treating Emotional Disorder in Gay Men was written for therapists treating gay men and for gay men themselves who might see themselves in my examples and learn from them. Here are two favorable reviews. Blye Frank, Mount Saint Vincent University Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada: I wasn’t expecting to like a book with “treating, emotional disorder, and gay men” in the title. As a gay man who works with gay men in various settings, including as a consellor, I am often fearful of words like “treating” and “disorder” in the context of gay men’s lives, particularly with the history of psychiatry of which we are familiar. However, Martin Kantor, in writing Treating Emotional Disorder in Gay Men, has produced a book that would benefit social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, nurse-clinicians and others who work with gay men experiencing emotional difficulties. In fact, in the end I quite like this book and suspect that it would be not only helpful, but might in fact re-frame some of the thinking and practice that continues to go on in the counseling of gay men. Kantor presents a discussion of the various types of psychotherapy used in treating psychopathologies in gay men. He identified: (a) Affirmative: based on the school of thought which supports that homophobia and heterosexism is the primary, if not the sole cause of psychopathology in gay men: (b) Reparative: which supports the notion that homosexuality is a pathology in and of itself and can be repaired, and (c) Supportive: which is, in general, “less concerned about the patients’ sexuality than the patient’s intra psychic and intrapersonal problems” (p. 7). Supportive Psychotherapy is discussed more fully than the other two approaches and is used as the framework for discussion of various DSM-IV Disorders and psychopathologies. In this initial discussion, Kantor identifies his professional and political beliefs at the outset of the book, which I very much appreciated. For example, he says that he supports a psychotherapy that incorporates a socio-political analysis as well as the personal needs of the patient. Secondly, he supports a therapeutic approach that functions within the constructs of the DSM-IV, but is clear that this approach must be filtered through the gauze of the homosexual lifestyle. And, although Kantor talks pejoratively about affirmative psychotherapy, he recognizes the need for, and use of, this approach in facilitating certain aspects of what he believes is the most beneficial therapeutic approach: supportive psychotherapy. Kantor supplies his reasons why he does not support any aspect of the reparative approach. He does, however point out that it has been, and continues to be, used as a means of therapy within some situations in therapeutic psychology and counseling. With regard to supportive psychotherapists, Kantor says that they “recognize that a gay man’s problems can be as much the product of his personal difficulties as of society’s disapproval of his homosexual lifestyle” (p. 7). In addition, he says they, “are at once affirmative in their attitude toward, as well as traditionally psychologically-minded about their patients” p. 7. Finally, Kantor locates his philosophical and practical positions within psychotherapy by saying, “the goal of supportive psychotherapists is to make a dynamically-based diagnosis the basis of a rational, doable, treatment plan attuned to the special needs of gays as a group and to the unique problems of the specific individuals undergoing therapy” (p.9). In detailing the techniques of making a diagnosis using a supportive therapeutic framework, Kantor suggests therapists: (1) determine the patients’ chief complaint, (2) take a past history, (3) look for affective changes like depression, euphoria or flattening affect, (4) evaluate insight, and (5) identify motivation for treatment. In addition, he notes that certain special parameters need to be considered when assessing prevalence or existence of psychopathology. Kantor proposes “being gay can, and often does, change the superficial presentation of familiar psychopathology” (p. 11). Following his introductory chapter, Kantor proceeds to address the following psychopathologies under the treatment paradigm of supportive psychotherapy, discussing each in terms of its affects and consequences for gay men: (1) paranoid, (2) depression, (3) grief, (4) hypomania, (5) The Paraphilias, (6) disorders due to stress and trauma, (7) The Personality Disorders—Cluster A—Odd. Eccentric, (8) The Personality Disorders—Cluster B—Dramatic, emotional, erratic, (9) The Personality Disorders—Cluster C—anxious, fearful, other and (10) Identity Disorder. Kantor treats each of the above chapters in such a way as to maintain a level of practical professionalism while at the same time capturing and holding the attention of the reader through use of stories and informative anecdotes. He begins his concluding chapter, “Supportive Psychotherapy” with “supportive psychotherapy for gay men with emotional problems can eliminate a broad range of emotional difficulties in gay men” (p. 141) and suggests that therapist treat the man in the context of his homosexuality, not the homosexual man and his emotional problems. With this in mind, Kantor believes that most gay men enter psychotherapy with the same types of problems as straight men. Kantor manages a fine line, I would suggest, rather well. That is, he maintains that gay men are both similar and different from their straight counterparts without pathologizing their sexuality, or them because of their sexuality, while at the same time recognizing the need to remember that the client is gay and may have lived, or finds himself presently, in social contexts that are homophobic and/or heterosexist and, therefore, needs a different therapeutic approach because of his sexuality. So in the end, even though I might have some difficulty with the discourse that frames the issue of gay men experiencing emotional difficulties, I do recommend this book to therapists who work with men and gay men in particular. Emotional problems do not discriminate according to sexual orientation. Therefore, gay men have the same emotional difficulties as everyone else. When emotional problems in gay men are viewed solely as the product of sociopolitical events, it limits the therapeutic intervention to correction. Dr. Kantor asserts that the gay-aware supportive therapist can treat the emotional problem with a positive result by meeting he needs of the individual patient with a diagnosis-based treatment approach. From Journal of Psychotherapy in Independent Practice: Supportive psychotherapy for gay men with emotional problems can eliminate a broad range of emotional difficulties that are not exclusive to gay men. It shows therapist how psychological problems can be buried in a gay context and guides them to recognition and dynamic evaluation that forms the basis of a treatment plan that is simultaneously affirmative, supportive, and corrective. “Kantor cogently identifies the pitfalls of either extreme approach…eloquently establishes that gay men who seek mental health services often suffer from “specific emotional problems that are independent of or secondary to their homosexuality.” This work is a valuable resource for mental health professionals.” TREATING EMOTIONAL DISORDERS IN GAY MEN Buy Book from Amazon.com MY GUY: A GAY MAN'S GUIDE TO A LASTING RELATIONSHIP Buy Book from Amazon.com TOGETHER FOREVER: A GAY MAN’S GUIDE TO LIFELONG LOVE Buy Book from Amazon.com HOMOPHOBIA: DESCRIPTION, DEVELOPMENT, AND DYNAMICS OF GAY BASHING Buy Book from Amazon.com