from Clinical/Therapeutic Issues

According to the authors, "The purpose of this study was to compare licensed psychologists' attitudes toward and clinical evaluations of lesbian female, gay male, bisexual female, bisexual male, heterosexual female, and heterosexual male clients using the following constructs as dependent variables: attitudes, attributions of responsibility, clinical evaluations, and treatment expectations."

They interviewed members of the American Psychological Association. Initially, 600 members were contacted: 300 men and 300 women. Only 303 usable responses were culled from the original 600.

Of those interviewed, 49.5% identified as primarily heterosexual; 2.6% were primarily lesbian women; 2% were primarily gay males; 0.6% were primarily bisexual males; and 0.3% were primarily bisexual women.

Each participant was mailed a packet describing the study, study materials, and a return envelope. Attitudes were measured by using vignettes using client gender and client sexual orientation as variables in the vignettes.

In addition, participants were given a semantic differential test; an SAS test and a GAF test to ascertain the client's overall level of functioning.

The results of the study indicated that female participants "generally held more positive attitudes toward all clients than male participants did." In addition, participants rated female clients as stronger, more powerful, and more active than male clients.

The authors note, however, that "Because of the predominantly White and heterosexual composition of participants, this study's outcomes are limited in their applicability to all psychologists."

One notable outcome of the study was the "evidence of an interaction effect between participant gender and client sexual orientation." Male participants indicated a greater likelihood that LGB clients would threaten to harm someone than would heterosexual clients.

Another interaction effect was that female participants expected greater improvement in depressive symptoms for bisexual clients than for heterosexual clients.

The authors urge that "In light of the influence of homophobic and biphobic sentiment prevalent within mainstream U.S. culture, and the not-so-distance practice of diagnosing and conceptualizing LGB sexual orientations as pathologically deviant, we recommend that psychologists engage in further training, supervision, and their own therapy to develop greater acuity in recognizing how they experience and assess clients of differing sexual orientations and how stereotypes about LGB people may contribute to their reactions."

Updated: 8 February 2008

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