Many people who read New York City Voices can relate to the stigma of mental illness. They know that they are looked upon as "crazy" -- incapable of handling even the simplest task -- by those unacquainted with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or depression. However, those of us who are sexually variant face societal stigma as well. By sexually variant, I mean people who consider themselves to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. Often, these people are called "faggot," "lezzie," "poof" or other epithets. They are stigmatized because of their sexual identity.
Twenty-five years ago homosexuality was removed from the DSM as a mental illness. Prior to that, many people underwent therapy in an attempt to "cure" their homosexuality. Some of these therapies included aversion therapy, in which people were given electroshock therapy or noxious stimuli to try to change them to be heterosexual. Sometimes psychoanalysis was used to get to the root of this "infantile" or "narcissistic" behavior. However, it wasn't until the sixties and seventies that psychiatry began to emerge from its Dark Ages, and began to treat gays as human beings. In 1973, in a landmark decision, homosexuality was removed from the DSM-IIIR. In the decades since that time gay and lesbian people have become more mainstreamed into society. Nowadays, people do not think it is unusual for a gay man to bring his partner to a wedding or a christening, and the same is true for lesbians.
However, that does not mean that gays and lesbians do not suffer from many of the same problems that heterosexual people do. They suffer loss and mental illness as well. In that case a compassionate and caring therapist or psychiatrist may be necessary. Nowadays, there are even therapists, psychiatrists and social workers who are themselves gay or lesbian. Gay sensitive "straight" mental health workers can be helpful as well.
One place today that offers gay affirmative psychotherapy is the Heights-Hill Clinic, 25 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11217, (718) 875-1420. Dr. Ronald E. Hellman, MD and Lori Gralnick, CSW will gladly speak to anyone who telephones them asking for help.
The Zappalorti Society, a mental health consumer self-help support group that meets every Saturday afternoon between 2 and 4pm at the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center, 208 West 13th Street, New York, New York 10011. Contact mental health consumer advocate and community activist Bert Coffman at (917) 286-0616.