Group Therapy and the SIT Framework
Dr. Mark Yarhouse coauthored an article with Dr. Lee Beckstead that appears in the journal, Counseling and Values, Vol. 56, no. 1-2, October 2011. The article is titled, “Using Group Therapy to Navigate and Resolve Sexual Orientation and Religious Conflicts.”
Here is the abstract:
This article considers the use of group therapy to explore sexual identity questions in light of religious beliefs and values. The authors describe the basis of their group therapy approaches for sexual, religious, and social conflicts that differ from approaches that provide group members only the option of sexual reorientation to an ex-gay identity or adoption of a lesbian, gay, or bisexual identity. The authors come from different backgrounds and discuss how their perspectives and biases can potentially affect group process and outcome. They present guidelines, structure, content, and strategies for their group therapy approaches.
The Sexual Identity Therapy (SIT) Framework is discussed in the journal article as one of several emerging approaches to resolving sexual identity conflicts. Dr. Yarhouse then goes on to write about how he conducts group therapy within the SIT Framework by drawing on cognitive-behavioral, person-centered, and narrative theoretical orientations by focusing on attributional search for sexual identity, navigating religious identity, and facilitating personal congruence. The articles closes with a discussing of the authors’ combined understanding in terms of how their approaches are similar and strategies they recommend for resolving sexual identity conflicts.
New York Times Magazine Article
The New York Times Magazine has an article that deals with how therapists and counselors work with people who experience a conflict between their same-sex sexuality and their religious beliefs and values. The article considers developments in the field in light of the American Psychological Association’s 2009 task force report on appropriate therapeutic responses to sexual orientation. Sexual Identity Therapy among other approaches is discussed, and both Warren Throckmorton and I are interviewed regarding our work with people navigating that terrain.
Mindfulness and SIT
Dr. Erica Tan and Dr. Mark Yarhouse recently completed an article that appears in the latest issue of Psychotherapy, a peer-reviewed journal published by the APA. The article focuses on the use of mindfulness in providing Sexual Identity Therapy (SIT). Here is the abstract:
With the increasing relevance of sexual minority concerns, including the process of navigating sexual and religious identities, clinical practice has focused on helping sexual minorities address methods of self-expression taht are most congruent with the client’s values. Sexual Identity Therapy (SIT) (Throckmorton & Yarhouse, 2006) has been developed to assist individuals who are seeking to address potential conflicts between religious and sexual identities by focusing on personal congruence. To facilitate this process, the practice of mindfulness is applied. As an adaptation from its spiritual origins, mindfulness is used to facilitate the treatment of various disorders, such as chronic pain, substance abuse, and depression. It has also been the crux of several different third-wave cognitive and behavioral therapies that consider the “…context and functions of psychological phenomena” (Hayes, 2004, p. 5) for the purpose of helping clients to develop “…broad, flexible and effective repertoires” (p. 6). In this instance, mindfulness is applied to SIT to assist individuals with same-sex attraction to become nonjudgmentally aware of their thoughts and feelings related to same-sex attraction such that they are able to experience their attractions in an open and honest manner without feeling compelled to either dismiss or augment these attractions. Mindful awareness of same-sex attraction facilitates congruence because there is less emphasis on changing behaviors, thoughts or feelings, but rather, changing the relationship the individual has to their experiences of same-sex attraction so that they are experienced as neutral, as opposed to aversive.
