I am a gay man

5 Tips to Overcome Your Loneliness as a Gay Man

Updated April 18,

by Clinton Power, psychotherapist and Gay Therapy Center guest blogger

Unfortunately, struggling with feelings of loneliness and isolation is prevalent in the gay community despite the focus on love and relationships. Sometimes you might effort with making connections at all, and other times you may feel “alone in a crowded room” because it’s so complicated to forge true connections.

Let’s examine how you can constructively deal with feelings of loneliness and share a life you’re delighted to live!

Why do gay men get lonely?

Loneliness is, in some ways, part of the queer experience. The prevalence of loneliness was significantly higher among adults who identified as gay (%). Since everyone is assumed to be heterosexual, we all launch out in the closet. The stress of not being out is emotional more than rational, but it takes its toll. Even before you came out to yourself, on some level you might have known you couldn’t fulfill expectations of a heterosexual life. You may possess grown up feeling different and separated fro

by Fred Penzel, PhD

This article was initially published in the Winter edition of the OCD Newsletter. 

OCD, as we realize, is largely about experiencing severe and unrelenting doubt. It can cause you to doubt even the most basic things about yourself – even your sexual orientation. A study published in the Journal of Sex Research start that among a group of college students, 84% reported the occurrence of sexual intrusive thoughts (Byers, et al. ). In request to have doubts about one’s sexual identity, a sufferer need not ever have had a homo- or heterosexual experience, or any type of sexual experience at all. I have observed this symptom in young children, adolescents, and adults as skillfully. Interestingly Swedo, et al., , set up that approximately 4% of children with OCD experience obsessions concerned with forbidden aggressive or perverse sexual thoughts.

Although doubts about one’s retain sexual identity might seem pretty straightforward as a symptom, there are actually a number of variations. The most obvious form is where a sufferer experiences the reflection that they mig

The 5 best things about being a gay man

Growing up, I spent so much time and force trying to hide who I was because I bought into mainstream society’s beliefs about what it means to be gay.

I saw myself as less than, weak, disgusting, defective, and simply not excellent enough. I constantly measured myself up against linear men, and my internal belief system told me I wasn’t adequate.

After many years of working through my own shame around being gay and processing my own internalized homophobia, I began to observe the light within me. People always told me I had this beam, but I didn’t let it to shine because shame told me to dim it.

A lot of this work came down to me accepting myself for exactly who I am, and an aspect of that was existence a gay man.

I now see being gay as a beautiful gift I have been given. The gift of being alternative and finding strength in that difference. The token of being able to pull me out of many years of suffering and redeem myself as someone who I am proud of today.

Being queer to me is a small part of who I am. It makes up an aspect of my self-concept, a

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