Marriage and family therapists' comfort working with lesbian and gay male clients: the influence of religious practices and support for lesbian and gay male human rights

The purpose of this study was to explore potential influences on marriage and family therapists' comfort level when working with lesbian and gay male clients, including sex, age, race, sexual orientation, political orientation, religious practices of the therapist, as well as the level of support for lesbian and gay male human rights. Participants in this study were 199 experienced therapists. Results indicated that higher levels of religious practices were related to lower levels of support for lesbian and gay male human rights and to lower levels of comfort working with lesbian and gay male clients. When support for lesbian and gay male human rights was considered, the level of religious practices was no longer predictive of comfort working with lesbian and gay male clients.     

Shedding light on thirteen years of darkness: content analysis of articles pertaining to transgender issues in marriage/couple and family therapy journals

What is the extent to which marriage/couple and family therapy (M/CFT) journals address transgender issues and how many of them say they are inclusive of transgender persons when they are not? To answer these queries, a content analysis was conducted on articles published in M/CFT literature from 1997 through 2009. Of the 10,739 articles examined in 17 journals, only nine (0.0008%) focused on transgender issues or used gender variance as a variable. Findings support the assertion that transgender issues are ignored and marginalized by M/CFT scholars and researchers alike.     

Changes of sexual behavior related to temporal lobe disorders in man∗

The term ‘thorarche’ is proposed for the first seminal ejaculation in boys. A retrospective study on thorarche with 142 male, undergraduates (aged 18–21 years) indicated that 80.3% remembered their thorarche. Less than a third had had any instruction about its occurrence compared to the 91.7% of 133 female undergraduates who were instructed about menarche. The cause of thorarche for 92.4% was sexual, it occurred in sleep for only 25.6%. Approximately 43% felt thorarche made them aware that a milestone in masculinity had been attained but only 12.4% told anyone about it while just under half (41.7%) tried to hide its occurrence. In the case of the girls, 46.2% reported that menarche made them feel that a milestone in female development was attained and 49.1% told other girls about its occurrence. Of those who could recall the time of year of their thorarche a strong seasonal effect was apparent, the highest incidence occurred in the spring (40.6%) and summer (34.8%) sharply decreasing in the autumn (15.9%) and winter (8.7%). This was in contrast to menarche which was evenly distributed between spring, summer, autumn and winter. Unlike menarche, there was no evidence for a secular trend in thorarche.     

How Many Bytes Does It Take? A Content Analysis of Cyber Issues in Couple and Family Therapy Journals

In the fifteen years since the explosion of the Internet, using cyber technology for work and social functions has exponentially increased. Yet, questions around how to manage such changes remain elusive in family therapy literature. In this investigation, we conducted a content analysis to determine to what extent marriage/couple and family therapy (M/CFT) journals have responded to the integration of the Internet in couple and family life. We found 79 of 13,274 articles across seventeen journals focused on the Internet in some capacity. Implications for clinical practice, training, and future research are discussed. Video Abstract