2nd Edition
Handbook of LGBTQ-Affirmative Couple and Family Therapy
This comprehensive second edition inspires therapists to utilize clinical work to pragmatically address intersectional oppressions, lessen the burden of minority stress, and implement effective LGBTQ affirmative therapy.
A unique and important contribution to LGBTQ literature, this handbook includes both new and updated chapters reflecting cutting-edge intersectional themes like race, ethnicity, polyamory, and monosexual normativity. A host of expert contributors outline the best practices in affirmative therapy, inspiring therapists to guide LGBTQ clients into deconstructing the heteronormative power imbalances that undermine LGBTQ relationships and families. There is also an increased focus on clinical application, with fresh vignettes included throughout to highlight effective treatment strategies.
Couple and family therapists and clinicians working with LGBTQ clients, and those interested in implementing affirmative therapy in their practice, will find this updated handbook essential.
Section I Foundations of LGBTQ Affirmative Therapy
1. Evolution of LGBTQ Affirmative Couple and Family Therapy
Rebecca Harvey, Megan J. Murphy, and Tracey A. Laszloffy
2. Intercultural Issues in LGBTQ+ Couple and Family Therapy: Supporting Empowerment and Resilience at the Intersection of Identities
Amney J. Harper and Anneliese A. Singh
3. Heteronormativity and Ethics in the Treatment of LGBTQ Clients
Megan J. Murphy
Section II Working with Couples
4. We Cannot Change What We Cannot Name for Ourselves: Integrating Attachment Theory into Couple Therapy with Gay Men
Robert Allan
5. Illuminating Strengths: Multiracial Feminist Couple Therapy with Queer Women
Montinique McEachern, Deborah Coolhart, and Dyane Watson
6. "There’s a Lot We Don’t Understand About Each Other:" Centering Bisexual Partners in Couple Therapy
Erica E. Hartwell, Katie M. Heiden-Rootes, and Steph Cooke
7. Therapists’ Accountability and Engagement with Transgender and Nonbinary Couples
Livingstone Carter Cox, Kristen E. Benson, and Alex Iantaffi
8. Affirming Diversity and Targeting Pleasure: Sex Therapy for Gay Male Couples
Marla Manuela Peixoto
9. "I Could Never See You and Now I Dare Not Touch You:" Sex Therapy with Lesbian Couples
Brooks A. Bull and Jassy Casella Timberlake
10. Sexuality and Desire Landscapes in Transgender, Nonbinary, and Genderqueer Relationships
Arlene I. Lev and Shannon L. Sennott
11. Therapeutic Considerations in Same-Sex Divorce and Relationship Dissolution
Kevin P. Lyness
Section III Family and Identity Considerations
12. Invisible Humans: Identity Development and Visibility Management in Gender, Sexual, Erotic, and Relational
Diversity
Markie Louise Christianson (L. C.) Twist, Raven Cloud, and Sarah A. Hechter
13. I Have Too Many Mothers: Queer Families Raising Children
Linda Stone Fish
14. Affirming Queerness: Raising Happy, Healthy Children
Rebecca Harvey, Paul D. Levatino, Jonathan Ruiz, and Linda Stone Fish
15. Gender Affirmative Therapy with Trans and Gender Expansive (TGE) Youth and Families: Listening to Youth
and Thoughtfully Following Their Lead
Deborah Coolhart and Tristan K. Martin
16. Helping LGBTQ Stepfamilies Meet Their Challenges
Patricia L. Papernow
17. "I Will Always Come Home to You:" Affirmative Therapy with Clients Practicing Consensual Non-Monogamy
Sheila M. Addison, Noelle Clason
Section IV Special Issues
18. "I Didn’t Know I Had a Right to Exist:" Queer Elders and Family Therapy
Paul D. Levatino
19. Where Should We Go To Church? Or Should We Even Bother: Spirituality and Religion and LGB Couples'
Therapy
Steven D. Johnson, Sharon S. Rostosky, and Ellen D. B. Riggle
20. Treatment of Partner Violence in Sexual and Gender Minority Couples
Nathan Mather, Deanna Linville, and Tiffany B. Brown
21. Treating LGBT Couples Experiencing Substance Use Disorders: Trauma-Informed and Affirmative Therapy
Approaches
Michael Shelton
22. Rewrite the Script: A Call for More Queer and Inclusive Couple Enrichment Programs
Shoshana D. Kerewsky, Darien T. Combs, and Nathan Mather
Section V Training Issues
23. "Why Can’t We Just Learn About Normal Couples?" LGBQ Affirmative Training Strategies for CFT Faculty
and Programs
Christi R. McGeorge, Ashley A. Walsdorf, Katelyn O. Coburn
24. Self-Disclosure: Considerations for Therapy and Supervision
Steph Cooke, Mary R. Nedela, Daran Shipman, and Erika L. Grafsky
25. Recovery From Sexual Orientation Change Efforts: Affirming the Intersections of Marginalized Identities Among Survivors
Jeffrey S. Lutes
26. Getting Personal: Queer Supervision
Janie K. Long, Jack Grote, Kyra E. Citron, Melanie Camejo Coffigny, Manish Kumar, Tyler Lian, and Shom Tiwari
Biography
Rebecca Harvey, PhD, is Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut. She has been proudly queering family therapy practice, supervision, and training for over 25 years. Dr. Harvey is co-author of the book Nurturing Queer Youth: Family Therapy Transformed.
Megan J. Murphy, PhD, is Professor and Director of the Couple and Family Therapy Program at Purdue University Northwest in Hammond, Indiana. She is co-editor with Dr. Lorna Hecker of Ethics and Professional Issues in Couple and Family Therapy (2nd edition).
Jerry J. Bigner, PhD, was Professor Emeritus in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Colorado State University, and was the editor of the Journal of GLBT Family Studies. He has had over 50 research publications and 20 chapters in texts relating to parent-child relations as well as gay and lesbian family issues.
Joseph L. Wetchler, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Marriage and Family Therapy at Purdue University Northwest. He formerly served as Editor of the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy and as Associate Editor of the Journal of GLBT Family Studies.
This Handbook is a tour de force of best thought and practice for affirmative therapy now as well as a story of how much has changed and how much still must, not just for LGBTQ couples and their families but for humanity. The Editors and authors grapple with the complexities that layer lives courageously lived within evolving densities of oppressions. The through lines of the clinically and conceptually sound chapters are a critique of heteronormativity, the importance of an intersectional analysis and the imperative of social justice for all. I highly recommend this wise and deeply felt book.
- Kaethe Weingarten, Ph.D.; Director, the Witness to Witness Program
Social justice meets psychotherapy in this timely innovative book. These diverse authors demonstrate how to identify and transform oppressive narratives about race, gender and sexuality interwoven not only in LGBTQ couple and family life but in training and supervision practices. The breath of content includes often neglected topics for LGBTQ clients such as sex therapy, elders, spirituality, and divorce. It is time to queer the field of couple and family therapy for clients of all races, gender, and sexual experiences. This book leads the way.
- Suzanne Iasenza, PhD.; author of Transforming sexual narratives: A relational approach to sex therapy
This comprehensive text should be required reading for every family therapist, psychologist, social worker, counsellor, and other mental health worker. It is superbly written, conveying complex ideas in a clear, thoughtful, practical and useful way. The book is a pleasure to read. It lays out a transformational perspective on the many complexities of LGBTQ families. The authors and editors share, as they say, an impatience with artifice and a love for the aspirational. Indeed they do. But beyond that, they provide an excellent roadmap for considering or more appropriately reconsidering all the families we see. They offer an expansive contextual perspective on intersectionality, resilience, and support from "outside the margins," with excellent case examples, thoughtful and practical clinical suggestions and a hopeful, resilience-focused orientation toward even the most complex and difficult case situations.
- Monica McGoldrick, MSW, PhD (h.c.); Director, Multicultural Family Institute; Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, RWJ Medical School, Rutgers University
The Handbook does full justice to the enormous diversity within the LGBTQ community. Each chapter is an eye-opening and rewarding reading experience. The book abounds with specific treatment guidelines and clinical case examples for practitioners. An impressive achievement!
- Robert-Jay Green, PhD; Distinguished Professor Emeritus, California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University
