Christians who struggle with a conflict between their sexual and religious identities have few therapeutic options. ‘Sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) have rightly fallen out of favor and are no longer practiced by most clinicians. At the same time, the standard approach of gay affirmative therapy (GAT) can sometimes present challenges. It may not be a good fit when clients hold to conventional religious beliefs and values.
An alternative to these methods is Sexual Identity Therapy (SIT). This approach aims to provide individuals with a safe therapeutic space to explore the tension between their sexuality and faith. Working within the SIT framework, clients can resolve their inner conflict to their personal satisfaction and freely choose a coherent identity that enables them to move forward in life.
SIT has several stages designed to enable the client to make meaning out of their same-sex sexuality. At no point in the process is the client encouraged to choose one sexual identity over another. The ultimate goal of SIT is congruence. Congruence is achieved when a person freely adopts an identity and lives it out in ways that are in keeping with their beliefs and values. The SIT model is brought to life throughout the book with the help of case studies drawn from the author’s 20 years of experience.
Written for Christian and non-religious clinicians, Sexual Identity and Faith is an informed, respectful, and nuanced guide to help people navigate the complex conflict between who they are sexually and what they believe religiously.
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Back to Tabs“Sexual Identity and Faith offers the most compassionate ‘third way’ of clinical care for those who want to mature in their sexual and religious/spiritual identities. A valuable voice in the polarizing cultural discussion that often advocates for either sexual orientation change or affirmation, Mark Yarhouse provides an approach that does not indoctrinate but instead invites clients to craft a life that honors their values, beliefs, and experience. This book should be a training resource for all professional caregivers who want to be culturally competent, intellectually humble, religiously consistent, and spiritually attuned.”
—Stephen P. Stratton, professor of counseling and pastoral care, Asbury Theological Seminary
“Yarhouse provides a compassionate alternative to conversion therapy for those who struggle to live by conservative religious values while dealing with their same-sex sexual feelings and orientation.”
—Judith Glassgold, PsyD, part-time lecturer, Rutgers University Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology
“This is a very important resource for those who provide help to the spectrum of sexual and faith minorities. Yarhouse, in plain language, shares what he has been developing these many years of bridge-building, understanding, affirming, and respecting sexual identity and faith. This guidebook is designed to develop self-awareness, knowledge, and skills for working with a broad range of clients to facilitate their identity exploration and development. The descriptive case examples were very helpful in applying these skills, especially in seeing options for mixed-orientation couples and teenagers coming out to family members.”
—Lee Beckstead, PhD, counseling psychologist
“Sexual Identity and Faith is the clearest exposition yet of the contours of ‘Sexual Identity Therapy’ and can successfully inform clinicians in guiding clients to sort out the dissonance between their erotic attractions and their personal religious faith. As the foremost Christian clinician/researcher working in this field, Yarhouse offers us a truly client-affirmative approach in an age of ideologically foreclosed approaches to such issues. This volume is a welcome and impressive contribution.”
—Stanton L. Jones, PhD, professor of psychology, Wheaton College
“For too long, sexual minorities have been asked to disavow either their faith for their sexual identity or their sexual identity for their faith. Yarhouse’s SIT is a practical and culturally respectful way to walk with these individuals, empowering them to author their own stories, stories in which they discern how to hold their faith and sexual identity together, honoring what matters most to them.”
—Janet Dean, PhD, licensed psychologist and associate professor of psychology, Asbury University
“This book is a highly needed clinical guide for Christian and non-religious practitioners with clients presenting a conflict between their religious and sexual identities. Before this work, clients entering therapy tended to see the resolution by minimizing one aspect of identity while holding the other paramount. The author details a ‘third way’—one that holds religious and sexual identity in regard, that requires a cultural humility by the practitioner and focuses on client affirmation and internal congruence. While directed at clinicians, this work is also accessible and can be invaluable to individuals and families navigating this terrain.”
—Michael Lastoria, professor emeritus, Houghton College, coauthor of Listening to Sexual Minorities
“I greatly appreciate the integrity of Mark’s work in (and his heart for) helping sexual-minority Christians as they struggle to make meaning out of their experiences of same-sex attraction amidst conflicting messages from inside and outside their faith traditions. This book provides mental health clinicians the necessary tools to help religiously-minded sexual minorities often navigate murky waters and potentially treacherous pathways towards inner peace and cognitive congruence.”
—Trista L. Carr, PsyD, licensed psychologist (CA psy25232)
“I am so excited about the release of Sexual Identity and Faith by Dr. Mark Yarhouse. As a graduate student who studied with him and learned SIT, I have applied this approach in work with many individuals who experience same-sex attraction to help them figure out how they wanted to “show up” in the world in a consistent way their values. Dr. Yarhouse presents a nuanced, compassionate, and dialectical view of sexual identity that is client-centered and helps the therapist provide support to the client in a way determined by the client’s values. Any clinician working with individuals whose experience of faith intersects with their sexuality will find this to be a helpful resource.”
—Erica Tan, PsyD, Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Preface / ix
Part One: Overview of Sexual Identity Therapy
Chapter 1: Religious Identity and Sexual Identity in Therapy / 3
Chapter 2: Assessment / 17
Chapter 3: Discussing Sexual Identity Therapy with Clients / 37
Part Two: Therapy Tools
Chapter 4: A Three-Tier Distinction / 59
Chapter 5: Weighted Aspects of Identity / 69
Chapter 6: Joining Clients on an Attributional Search for Identity / 79
Chapter 7: Identifying Dominant Narratives / 93
Chapter 8: Identifying Proscriptive and Prescriptive Constraints / 103
Chapter 9: Interviewing the Concern / 113
Chapter 10: Recognizing Counternarratives / 117
Chapter 11: Chapters in One’s Life / 123
Chapter 12: Congruence / 133
Part Three: Marriage & Family Therapy: Applying SIT to Specific Groups
Chapter 13: Mixed-Orientation Couples / 145
Chapter 14: When Youth Come Out: Working with Christian Parents / 169
Appendix A: The Sexual Identity Therapy Framework / 181
Appendix B: A Case Study of Sexual Identity Therapy / 201
Appendix C: A Case Study of a Mixed-Orientation Couple / 217
Appendix D: A Case Study of an Adolescent and Family Therapy / 227
Notes / 235
References / 237
Index / 251
Back to TabsWorksheet 2.1 – Assessment – Milestone Events
Worksheet 2.2 – Assessment – Religious and Spiritual Identity
Worksheet 2.3 – Quality of Life
Worksheet 3.1 – Advanced Informed Consent
Worksheet 4.1 – A Three-Tier Distinction
Worksheet 4.1 – A Three-Tier Distinction
Worksheet 5.1 – Aspects of Sexual Identity – Sample
Worksheet 5.2 – Aspects of Sexual Identity – Current
Worksheet 5.3 – Aspects of Sexual Identity – Ideal
Worksheet 8.1 – Identifying Proscriptive Constraints
Worksheet 8.2 – Identifying Prescriptive Constraints
Worksheet 8.3 – If No Constraints
Worksheet 10.1 – Identify Your Counternarrative
Worksheet 11.1 – Chapters in a Person’s Life
Worksheet 11.2 – Your Current Chapter
Worksheet 11.3 – Your Future Chapter
Worksheet 13.1 – Journey of Awareness
Worksheet 13.2 – Reflections on the Triangular Theory of Love
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