Homophobiatherapy: Recent Episodes
West Pride
It is very common to suffer from phobias. Some people develop phobias for totally safe things, such as harmless spiders, riding the elevator or talking to trans, bi- or homosexual people. It is possible to develop phobias for absolutely anything!
Cognitive behavioral therapy can help you deal with emotional problems by altering thought patterns and behaviors. Perhaps living a life with less discomfort sounds appealing to you?
When thinking back on how things were before the therapy, do you perceive yourself as less irritated, worried or angry? Perhaps, it is not as important to categorize people or judge them based on how they look as it was before?
To keep developing and avoiding falling back into destructive thought patterns, contemplate over how you can use the tools from the therapy to keep living a life with more happiness, freedom and less prejudice.
Perhaps the most important part of the therapy is to actually seek out the situations, people or things you feel uncomfortable about. It is all about changing your behavior and thus as a result change your thoughts and emotions. We have to confront things that scare us and learn to deal with it in order to discover that what we have been avoiding actually is not as uncomfortable as we previously thought.
The whole deal is to learn how to tolerate discomfort and thus the discomfort will decrease over time and will in turn allow you to have new experiences.
It can be very hard to change your thought pattern, which can stem from that your thoughts not always align with your behavior.
If you tell yourself that something is dangerous and thus avoid it, it will be very difficult to learn that it is in fact safe. An important part of CBT is to expose yourself to what you fear and willingly go into situations that you would otherwise avoid.
The goal for Homophobia Therapy is for you to have thoughts based on reality rather than just positive thoughts. The aim is not to eliminate thoughts but to think differently based on new perspectives.
In this step you will learn to question your negative thoughts. For every phobic thought, an alternative thought will be created that will help you on your path to a freer life.
The thoughts we carry around affect our behavior and emotions. Unfortunately, they seldom constitute objective truths. In this step we will examine your thoughts as a matter of fact, almost like a scientist examines something under a magnifying glass.
To work on your thought patterns, you have to be able to identify them. It may sound obvious, but it takes a lot of practice.
Do you feel discomfort when you see someone who doesn’t fit the norm for sexuality or gender expression? Do you think that men and women should look a certain way? Do you easily adapt to a homophobic jargon without even thinking about it? In this step we will take a look at what factors that contribute to the development of phobia.
To feel ambiguous when presented with change is not uncommon. Change infers accepting something new and such feelings of uncertainty can be stressful.
If you challenge yourself and reflect over what you are thinking, saying and doing, there is a lot to gain. Who knows, an increased understanding of the world around you might lead to something good?