| Abstract: | Stephen Mitchell's two early papers on the psychoanalytic theory and treatment of homosexuality show characteristic Mitchell qualities—an astounding intelligence, a theoretical syncretism, an unusual ability to fine tune his sense of clinical case examples to particular theories. Surprisingly, they also show a serious commitment to some of the principles of ego psychology. In these papers, Mitchell is perhaps the first analyst to challenge the distinctly unpsychoanalytic pathologizing of all homosexual orientation based on developmental origins characteristic of all sexualities, as well as the distinctly unpsychoanalytic clinical practice of trying to change sexual orientation and behavior in patients rather than helping them to achieve self-understanding and the diminution of conflict. |
