Some problems encountered in the psychoanalytic treatment of overt male homosexuality

This article describes certain theoretical and clinical problems commonly met with during the psychoanalytic treatment of adult homosexual patients. Difficulties discussed are selected out of extensive clinical experience and are described under several headings: general problems, such as selection of patients, motivation for seeking therapy, problems at the outset; the working alliance and its maintenance; transference problems and the issue of analyzability; problems secondary to deficiencies in the structure of the ego of the homosexual patient; the imperativeness of the homosexual impulse and the problem of acting out; extrinsic problems.