The Use of Nudity in Therapy with Gay Men
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THE USE OF NUDITY IN THERAPY WITH GAY MEN “The fallen veil” By Pedro de Freitas, MD A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Maimonides University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy North Miami Beach, Florida June 2006 DISSERTATION COMMITTEE William A. Granzig, Ph.D., MPH Chancellor-Dean of the Faculty Professor-Clinical Sexology Chairman James O. Walker, Ph.D. Assistant Dean Clinical Professor Mary D. Lutzo, Ph.D. Clinical Professor Approved by the Dissertation Committee Maimonides University North Miami Beach, Florida _______________________________________ William A. Granzig, Ph.D., MPH Date Chancellor-Dean and Professor Chairman _______________________________________ James O. Walker, Ph.D. Date Assistant Dean and Clinical Professor _______________________________________ Mary D. Lutzo, Ph.D. Date Clinical Professor ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my warmest gratitude and appreciation to Dr. William Granzig for his vast knowledge and for his continuous support, enthusiasm and positive feed-back at all times. I believe that modern Clinical Sexology owes him a lot. I would also like to thank my other Committee Members – Dr. Mary Lutzo and Dr. James Walker for their advice, help, ideas and support. This work had not been possible without this special Committee. Special thanks to my friends from Body Electric School who unconsciously showed me the way that led to this research, and of course to my patients. Without their cooperation this work wouldn’t just exist. This paper was written during a very intense period of work in two hospitals and was accomplished thanks to an enormous enthusiasm catalyzed by a few number of people that always believed in me. Among them I wish to heighten my partner José Alberto for his unconditional love and support, the required ingredients to make most things feasible, easier and joyful in life. Nothing in my life would ever be possible without him. I also wish to thank my parents for their (diffident) enthusiasm. My deepest gratitude to my closest friends Carla, Paulo, Ana, Teresa, Henrique, Cíntia and Orlando Miguel for their continuous support, enthusiasm and faith in me. Life would be different without them and without their love. This paper is dedicated to José Alberto and Maria João. iii VITA Pedro de Freitas, MD completed his Medical School studies 25 years ago in Lisbon (Portugal) and has a background in Internal Medicine and General Medicine. Following a 9 years period in clinical practice, he served the pharmaceutical industry for 15 years. He worked in various multinational companies, and hold several different positions, from clinical research to top management, including one international function (European headquarters of an American company). He also completed his training in Counselling and Brief Therapy at the Portuguese Society of Brief Therapies in Lisbon, and shortly afterwards started his private practice in the mental health field. He was also granted an International Diploma in Clinical Hypnosis by the London College of Clinical Hypnosis. Pedro de Freitas is a Diplomate of the American Board of Sexology and is completing is PhD degree at Maimonides University in the Florida (USA). He is also an international member of the AGLP (Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists) and a full member of the Portuguese Society of Clinical Sexology. He works as a Clinical Sexologist at Hospital Júlio de Matos, the largest Psychiatric Hospital in Lisbon and in parallel as an emergency physician at Hospital de Santa Maria, also in Lisbon. iv ABSTRACT This study was designed to show that the use of nudity in therapy can be very helpful for individuals that need assistance with understanding body shame and body image issues and it addressed a sample size of ten gay men. The author investigated the functions and uses of nudity in therapy, starting from an in-depth look at the use of nudity, the psychology of the body, self-esteem related problems, body-shame and body-image problems, the sexual revolution and finally the use of nudity in therapy. All of these had significance for this study, and they were particularly important because they gave background and understanding to the use of nudity and how significant it has been during some periods in history. Author Aileen Goodson, PhD, a pioneer in this field of research, first reported experiments in nude psychotherapy as vividly relieving, revealing its potential for accelerating the therapeutic process. Her work has been seen by many as being very important to the future of this issue, and much of that comes from the fact that she is largely a pioneer when it comes to this particular type of therapy and what it can accomplish for patients. The study included a non-validated questionnaire created by the author and the analysis of the data indicated that many of the participants felt better about their own bodies and the bodies of others, which also indicates a higher level of self-esteem that could help translate into better personal and professional relationships, as well as stronger intimacy in their relationships. The study has succeeded in showing how the use of nudity in therapy may indeed be v very helpful for these individuals. The researcher is aware of this study limitations and his first recommendation for the future of research in this area is to repeat a study such as this one with a larger sample size. The author would also recommend the utilization of nudity in therapy with other population groups, like homosexual women. It would also be a good group to investigate in order to determine if they have the same basic feelings about the use of nudity in therapy as their gay male counterparts. The final recommendation is to investigate the reasons behind the answers to the questions on surveys or questionnaires such as the one used in this particular study. The goal of this dissertation is twofold: first, to serve as an introduction to the value of nudity as a therapeutic facilitator, to break through the walls of resistance usually associated with unconventional new thoughts, especially as it relates to nudity and the sexual/sensual areas of life. Second, to encourage and motivate further exploration by researchers and therapists in the behavioural sciences. The author is very keen on the continued study of the use of nudity in therapy, as he holds the strong belief that this type of therapy can help many more people in the future if only it will be more accepted and utilized more widely by other therapists. Further studies can help to attain these goals. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DISSERTATION APPROVAL ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii VITA iv ABSTRACT v TABLE OF CONTENTS vii CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION Introduction 2 Statement of the problem 6 Purpose of the study 11 Importance of the study 14 Scope of the study 15 Rationale for the study 16 Overview of the study 18 The Fallen Veil 19 CHAPTER 2 - REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Review of related literature 22 Psychology of the body 23 Fashion 24 Guilt 24 vii Self-esteem 25 Mind and health 26 Stress 26 Nudity in therapy 27 Naked versus Nude 27 Naked – a state of mind 28 Historical overview of nudity 29 Various modern-era attitudes 30 The sexual revolution 32 Body-shame and body-image problems 46 Gay men and therapy 53 Today’s thinking regarding the use of nudity in therapy 58 Future thinking regarding the use of nudity in therapy 67 CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY Research design and approach 71 Population and sample 72 Collection and Tabulation of Data 74 Data Analysis Procedure 75 Limitations of the Study 76 Reliability and Validity of the Data 79 viii CHAPTER 4 – ANALYSIS OF THE DATA Analysis of the data 81 Questionnaire 82 Nude sessions 89 Patient Population 91 The Gay Men’s Answers and the Researcher’s Analysis 114 The Validation or Invalidation of the Hypotheses 140 Number of nude sessions 143 Physical nakedness versus emotional nakedness 145 CHAPTER 5 - SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary 149 Conclusions 154 Recommendations 156 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 160 APPENDIX A - Questionnaire (Portuguese Version) 168 ix What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot grasp the fact that the human foot is more noble than the shoe and the human skin more beautiful that the garment with which it is clothed? MICHELANGELO - 1 - ‘ …and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Genesis , 3:7b When Adam and Eve made their awesome discovery of genitals, draped fig leaves over their sexual organs, and went slinking in shame from their garden paradise, they created mankind’s first statement about both fashion and psychology. Their actions established not only the first time (in western legend) that humans wore clothing but, consequently, also the first time that humans suffered guilt and shame, the sort of emotions that today would make them candidates for psychotherapy! - 2 - CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION In May 1975 the Associated Press reported an incident from Miami, Florida, involving three young mothers who were ordered by a keeper to leave a public park. The mothers were told that they could no longer use the park for picnics because, as the mayor later explained, their conduct violated the city decency ordinance – that the sight of women breastfeeding their babies was inappropriate, especially, the Mayor added, “in a public park where kids play”. One of the breastfeeding mothers happened to be a leader of the La Leche League in Florida, a part of the international organization largely instrumental in encouraging the return to breastfeeding. When she, together with the president of the League, appeared on a well-know national TV program in June 1975, they were greeted with a surprising amount of hostility from many women in the audience, who felt that breastfeeding should only be done in private.