En psykodynamisk förståelse av minoritetsstress hos hbtq-personer. Konceptualisering och behandling

Sammanfattning: The aim of the study is to enrich existing psychodynamic theory with experiences of psychodynamic psychotherapists and how they understand and treat minority stress among lgbtq-persons with mental health issues. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five experienced psychodynamic psychologists and psychotherapists. The informants’ contributions were analyzed using thematic analysis and resulted in two main themes with two subthemes each. The main results of the study showed that psychodynamic theory was expanded with norm critic principles to conceptualize mental health issues in relation to lgbtq identity and interventions focusing on affect and sense making were used to alleviate these issues. Identity making is influenced by society’s view and projections from surrounding people in addition to a constant reminder about the norm, lack of representation and loneliness. Trust issues, rejection sensitivity, internalization and externalization were understood as logical defenses in this situation. Apart from already existing interventions the ability to link social structures and attitudes in an idiosyncratic way to the inner dynamics of the individual are perceived as important. The study introduces the term socioeducation and discusses incentives for advocacy among clinicians. The study also concludes that interventions presented can be organized along dimensions of affective, sense making, proximal and distal.