300 Main Street #201 Grand Junction, Co 81501
           Phone 970-549-2849    Fax 970-549-1400

                      Affirmative Therapy

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Affirmative therapy works to validate and advocate for those with minority identities surrounding sexuality, gender identity, gender expression, and more.

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While LGBTQIA+ individuals attend therapy for reasons not unlike anyone else, their experiences are often shaped by their identities. In affirmative therapy practices, these identities are celebrated and taken into account when offering treatment.

In many cases, specializing in affirmative therapy requires mental health professionals to address their own internal biases and educate themselves on myriad LGBTQIA+ specific issues and terms. This knowledge base is especially crucial given the exclusionary history of LGBTQIA+ identities in psychology.

Homosexuality was listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) until 1973. Even after removing homosexuality from its “disorder” classification, the DSM continued to list “gender identity disorder” in their diagnoses before replacing it with “gender dysphoria” in 2013.

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Affirmative counseling and therapy work in opposition to these historical practices and instead help clients embrace their identities—not “cure” them. 

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Affirmative therapists will work with patients to achieve their mental health goals, all while actively uplifting their identities. Also embedded in the practice is an effort to help patients struggling with prejudices such as homophobia or transphobia.

It could also manifest in word choice, such as using a patient’s preferred pronouns or asking questions in gender-neutral terms (“do you have a partner?” versus “do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?”).

In affirmative therapy as a whole, the overarching focus is on the psychological impact of culture, history, heteronormativity, trauma, and intersectionality within the LGBTQIA+ community.

 

While developed with LGBTQIA+ patients’ needs in mind, everyone can benefit from affirmative therapy practices. In fact, the positive outcomes can have an even wider reach when affirmative therapists maintain their practices with heterosexual or cisgender clients––broadening their patients’ understanding of ideas like gender expectations or heteronormativity.

While everyone can find success in therapy with affirmative practices, certain groups benefit in different ways. Here are a few key groups that benefit from affirmative therapy.

LGBTQIA+ Individuals

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Families

Families with LGBTQIA+ members can benefit from affirmative therapy, particularly in the time after an individual comes out. Many families struggle with their own pre-existing biases or ideas surrounding a loved one’s identity. Affirmative practices in a marriage and family therapy (MFT) setting help families work through these biases and issues in communication, leading to greater acceptance.

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Couples

Many LGBTQIA+ couples looking to attend couples’ therapy may wish to work specifically with counselors with who practice affirmative therapy. This removes any fear of a mental health professional exhibiting biases in their practice. Affirmative couples’ therapy also brings an understanding of different couples’ dynamics across genders and sexualities. This better informs treatments and overall care