Bisexuality; Counseling Issues and Treatment Approaches

Forming a bisexual identity helps bisexual individuals to structure, to make sense of, and to give meaning and definition to their reality. This requires inner strength, self-reliance, confidence, and independence. As a counselor, we can give our bisexual clients a safe place to express their feelings. In groups, they could meet others who are going through similar experiences. Common themes for bisexual clients.

Social isolation: Feeling isolated and confused, not belonging. Fear of reactions of family and friends. Inability to conform to the ethics of either the gay or straight world. Fight to invent their identities to correspond to their experience. Confusion about their attraction towards people of both sexes. Lack of visible role models or community available to them. The central issue is to help the client form their identity. As a counselor, we have the task to accompany them on their search and assist them to find their place in society. Research into bisexuality, which has tended to be limited, shows bisexual young people are more prone to mental health predicaments due to the sense of 'not belonging.' Pressure can come from the friends and family of bisexuals to decide that they are either homosexual or straight, based on the perception that they are ' queer' and not genuinely bisexual. Many people who are open bisexuals will experience discrimination. As soon as they tell someone that they are bisexual, the problems begin. If you tell people you are gay or lesbian, it is different, but if you say you are bisexual the response tends to be, 'make up your mind and choose one or the other.

Going through all the real makes is evident that there is a relative scarcity of research on bisexual personality and counseling issues, as compared to important studies in the areas of homosexual identity and counseling issues. There is a growing literature that describes bisexuality as a robust and flexible sexualorientation. But there is still a long way to go until bisexuality is seen as an own sexual identity.