Counteracting the effects of invisibility in work with lesbian patients

Abstract

Lesbian women frequently experience "invisibility," the failure of others to recognize the significance of their sexuality and partnership relations. Such invisibility can have deleterious effects, such as a reduced ability to relate life stories to others and thereby to extend and integrate aspects of identity and its healthy complexity. Although this invisibility often is intertwined with coming-out phenomena, it continues to exist in many social contexts throughout life. Therefore, it is important for psychotherapists to recognize and understand the concept of invisibility so that they do not perpetuate it within the therapy. Several case vignettes are used as examples of how invisibility can affect a woman's life and functioning and can be counteracted in therapy.

Speaking vulnerable issues into existence: Their consequences for psychotherapy

“…One of these, shared by Jerome Bruner and Carolyn Saari [3,11], defines identity as a personal meaning system created over the course of the individual's life experience with the world. This system of meanings is organized primarily in a narrative form and is constructed upon the experience of continuity.…”

“…With no one else to talk to about her feelings, she had difficulty in understanding and integrating them. Cecilia's reports of feeling a lack of authenticity may be related to normative assumptions of heterosexuality operating to obstruct possibilities to share her story with others [3]. If not provided with opportunities to talk about this issue, this required her to reinforce repeatedly her old story of not feeling authentic, instead of getting the help she needed.…”

“…In many areas of their lives, lesbian women experience ''invisibility'', often in the form of the failures by others to recognize the significance of their sexuality and partnership relations. Such invisibility can have deleterious effects, such as reduced abilities to relate life stories to others as well as difficulties in integrating various aspects of identity and its healthy complexity [3]. Invisibility of this sort is also reinforced in formal systems of healthcare since practitioners seldom ask questions outside heteronormative frames.…”

Conceptual and ethical issues in therapy for the psychological problems of gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals

“…The article by Saari (2001) sensitizes us to the "invisibility" experienced by lesbiansarguably more than that experienced by gay men, but probably not as acute as that felt by bisexuals (Dworkin, 2001)-and to the deleterious effects that the neglect of female sexuality has on women who prefer other women as sexual partners. She structures her argument around psychoanalytic and ego analytic notions of identity formation.…”

If I Am Not Straight or Gay, Who Am I?

“…As shown by other research, invisibility and silence work to hinder homosexuals from fully extending and integrating aspects of their identities (Saari 2001). According to Davison (2001), a major ethical issue in therapy is related to seeing the problems of lesbians and gays as a direct consequence of oppression in society due to a lack of recognition for their love.…”