Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Psychology of Lesbian Health Care

  • Chapter
The Psychology of Women’s Health and Health Care

Abstract

Lesbians have previously played a more visible role within the ‘psychology of health’ than they presently play. This previous concern was as a consequence of lesbianism being placed firmly within the sickness paradigm, and endeavours being focused upon the aetiology of the ‘condition’ and its ‘treatment’. Hence, efforts were directed at trying to establish what had ‘gone wrong’ with a potentially healthy individual to place her in this state of ‘illness’, and then how the individual could be returned to the supposedly healthy state of heterosexuality. It is not for the want of trying that such scholarly enquiry bore little fruit, and as lesbians are now seen less as a strange and rare ‘species’, the interest they attract within health psychology diminishes to that of little or no consideration.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Anthony, B. (1982) ‘Lesbian Client - Lesbian Therapist: Opportunities and Challenges in Working Together’, in J. Gonsiorek (ed.), A Guide to Psychotherapy with Gay and Lesbian Clients (London: Harrington Park Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Armon, V. (1960) ‘Some Personality Variables in Overt Female Homosexuality’, Journal of Projective Techniques in Personality Assessment, 24, pp. 292–309, cited in D. Rosen (1974) Lesbianism - a Study of Female Homosexuality (Illinois: Thomas).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, R. (1985) ‘Examining Lesbian Health’, Healthsharing, spring.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, A., and Weinberg, M. (1978) Homosexualities: a Study of Sexual Diversity Amongst Men and Women (London: Mitchell Beazley).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, A., Weinberg, M. and Hammersmith, S. (1981) Sexual Preference: Its Development in Men and Women (Bloomington Ind.: Indiana University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Blechman, E. and Brown, K. (eds) (1988) Handbook of Behavioural Medicine for Women (Oxford: Pergamon).

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumstein, P. and Schwartz, P. (1983) American Couples (New York: William Morrow).

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks, V. (1981) Minority Stress and Lesbian Women (New York: Lexington Books).

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns, J. (1990a) ‘Women Organizing Within Psychology’, in E. Burman (ed.), Feminists and Psychological Practice (London: Sage).

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns, J. (1990b) ‘Psychological Aspects of Women’s Health Care’, in P. Bennett, P. Spurgeon & J. Weinman (eds), Current Developments in Health Care (London: Harwood Academic Publishers).

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, K. (1929) Factors in the Sex Life of Twenty-two Hundred Women (New York: Harper and Row).

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, D. and Wilsnark, S. (1978) ‘Alcohol Abuse Amongst Lesbians: a Descriptive Study’, Journal of Homosexuality, 4 (Part 2).

    Google Scholar 

  • EDWINA, (1990) Report on the Sixth Lesbian Health Care Conference: Lesbians and Mental Health, available from EDWINA c/o 1 Arden House, Pitfield Street, London, N1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, H. (1946) The Psychology of Sex (10th imp.) (London: Heinemann).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisk, N. (1981) ‘The Clinician and the Homosexual Patient’, Contemporary Ob/Gyn 14:92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freedman, M. (1971) Homosexuality and Psychological Functioning (Belmont, Calif. Brock-Cole).

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1920) Beyond the Pleasure Principle (London: The Hogarth Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Furnell, P. (1986) ‘Lesbian and Gay Psychology’, British Journal of Psychology, 39, pp. 41–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gartrell, N. (1981) ‘The Lesbian as a “Single” Woman’, American Journal of Psychotherapy, 35 (4) pp. 502–509.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glasser, M. (1977) ‘Homosexuality in Adolescence’, British Journal of Psychiatry, 50, pp. 217–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1967) Stigma: the Management of a Spoiled Identity (London: Pelican).

    Google Scholar 

  • Golombok, S., Spencer, A. and Rutter, M. (1983) ‘Children in Lesbian and Single-parent Households: Psychosexual and Psychiatric Appraisal’, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 24, pp. 551–572.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonsiorek, J. (1982) A Guide to Psychotherapy with Gay and Lesbian Clients (London: Harrington Park Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawton, K. (1983) ‘Behavioural Approaches to the Management of Sexual Deviations’, British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, pp. 248–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herek, G.M. (1984) ‘Attitudes Towards Lesbians and Gay Men: A Factor-analytic Study’, Journal of Homosexuality, 10, pp. 39–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins, J. (1969) ‘The Lesbian Personality’, British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, pp. 1433–1436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, M. (1973) Sexual Behaviour in the Seventies (Chicago: Playboy Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyde, J.S. (1985) Half the Human Experience: The Psychology of Women (3rd edn.) (Lexington, Mass. D.C. Heath).

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, S., Guenther, S. and Laube, D. (1981) ‘Factors Influencing Lesbian Gynecologic Care: a Preliminary Study’, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 1 May, pp. 140–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, S. and Palmero, J. (1984) ‘Gynecological Care for the Lesbian’, Clinical Obstetric Gynecology, 27, p. 724.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, S., Smith, E. and Guenther, S. (1987) ‘Comparisons of Gynecological Health Care Problems between Lesbians and Bisexual Women’, Journal of Reproductive Medicine, 32 (1) pp. 805–811.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, C. (1974) Homosexuality and Counselling (New York: Fortress Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinsey, A.C., Pomeroy, W.B., and Martin, C.E. (1948) Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinsey, A.C., Pomeroy, W.B., and Martin, C.E. (1953) Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitzinger, C. (1987) The Social Construction of Lesbianism (London: Sage).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitzinger, C. (1990) ‘Heterosexism in Psychology’, The Psychologist 3:10

    Google Scholar 

  • Klaich, D. (1974) Woman + Woman: Attitudes Towards Lesbianism (New York: Morrow).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kooden, H., Harrison, J., Martin, A., Rutter, E. and Doren, J. (1984) ‘Gay and Lesbian Health Fifteen Years after Stonewall’, in Sourcebook on Lesbian/Gay Health Care (New York: National Gay Health Education Foundation Inc.).

    Google Scholar 

  • Krafft-Ebings, R. von (1901) Psychopathia Sexualis: with a Special Reference to Anti-pathetic Sexual Instinct, a Medico-Forensic Study, 10th edn. (Aberdeen University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Krieger, S. (1982) ‘Lesbian Identity and Community: Recent Social Science Literature’, Signs, 8 (1), pp. 91–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loney, J. (1972) ‘Background Factors, Sexual Experiences, and Attitudes Towards Treatment in Two “Normal” Homosexual Samples’, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 38 (1) pp. 57–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCandlish, B. (1982) ‘Therapeutic Issues with Lesbian Couples’, in J. Gonsiorek (ed.), A Guide to Psychotherapy with Gay and Lesbian Clients. (London: Harrington Park Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mearns, D. and Dryden, W. (1989) Experiences of Counselling in Action (London: Sage).

    Google Scholar 

  • National Gay Health Education Foundation Inc. (1984) Sourcebook on Lesbian/Gay Health Care (New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Partnow, E. (1977) The Quotable Woman (Los Angeles: Pinnacle Books).

    Google Scholar 

  • Perkins, R. (1990) Heterosexism in Psychology (Letter) The Psychologist, 3 (11): 505.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peteros, K. and Miller, F. (1982) ‘Lesbian Health in a Straight World’, Coalition for the Medical Rights of Women. Apr., pp. 1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pilgrim, D. and Treacher, A. (1992) Clinical Psychology Observed (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, H. (ed.) (1981) Women, Health and Reproduction (London: Routledge).

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, P. and Shacter, J. (1981) ‘Failure to Identify Venereal Disease in the Lesbian Population’, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Apr-June, pp. 75–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, D. (1974) Lesbianism - a Study of Female Homosexuality (Illinois: C.C. Thomas).

    Google Scholar 

  • Saghir, M. and Robins, E. (1971) ‘Male and Female Homosexuality: Natural History, Contemporary Psychiatry, 12, pp. 503–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sedgewick, P. (1987) Psychopolitics (London: Pluto Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegelman, M. (1972) ‘Adjustment of Homosexual and Heterosexual Women’, British Journal of Psychiatry, 120, pp. 477–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, N., McCaudless, B. and Strickland, B. (1971) ‘Personal Adjustment of Male and Female Homosexuals and Heterosexuals’, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 78, pp. 237–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tylden-Pattenson, L.A.M. (1981) ‘Homosexuality and Health’, unpublished Diploma thesis, University of Leeds.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ussher, J.M. (1991) Women’s Madness: Misogyny or Mental Illness (Brighton: Harvester Wheatsheaf).

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, M. (1988) The Psychology of Women: Ongoing Debates (New Haven: Yale University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinberg, G. (1974) Society and the Healthy Homosexual (New York: Anchor Books).

    Google Scholar 

  • West, D. (1983) ‘Homosexuality and Lesbianism’, British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, pp. 221–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, J. (1987) Psychology of Women: Behaviour in a Biosocial Context (New York: Norton).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wooman, N. and Lenna, H. (1980) Counselling with Gay Men and Women (London: Josse-Bass).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Jan Burns
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sheffield, UK

    Paula Nicolson (Lecturer in Medical Psychology) (Lecturer in Medical Psychology)

  2. University College, London, UK

    Jane Ussher (Lecturer in Psychology) (Lecturer in Psychology)

Copyright information

© 1992 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Burns, J. (1992). The Psychology of Lesbian Health Care. In: Nicolson, P., Ussher, J., Campling, J. (eds) The Psychology of Women’s Health and Health Care. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12028-4_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation