Jack the Gay Dull Boy: Overcoming Overwork

Is that you, Jack, your eyes bagged, clothes wrinkled, and face falling into the keyboard over one more Excel spreadsheet or Powerpoint presentation?  Hey, we live in America, Puritan work ethic and all that, with fewer vacation days per year than most industrialized countries.  And everyone who’s heard the story of “the ant and the … Read more

Spruce Up, Dude: Gay Men’s Grooming and Its Importance in Relationships

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I’ve been providing relationship coaching and couples therapy for gay men since 1992, and over that time, I’ve noticed some patterns that will help, and hurt, a relationship. Lots of things help, but one that thing than can hurt is complacency.  Straight people know all about this; it’s the whole “married-now-let-yourself-go” syndrome — which can … Read more

The 8 Subtle Signs You Could Benefit from Therapy/Coaching

During my 22 years of clinical practice providing psychotherapy, mostly to both gay (www.GayTherapyLA.com) and straight (www.MensLifeSkillsCenter.com) men, I have helped clients with the well-known challenges that people seek therapy for: depression, anxiety, relationship concerns, career concerns, and loss.  The general public knows all of these.  But there are more subtle situations and reasons for … Read more

PrEP (Truvada): An HIV Mental Health Specialist Therapist Weighs In on One of the Hottest Topics for Gay Men Today

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At GayTherapyLA.com, (which can also be accessed via www.PozTherapist.com, to coincide with my identity as a psychotherapist with over 22 years experience providing gay-affirmative therapy to gay men and couples, as well as my 24 years being HIV-positive, and an HIV mental health expert and advocate in Los Angeles), my staff of clinical associates and … Read more

A Secular Appreciation of Easter

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Keep Calm and Read Blog.  This is gonna be radical: Can we all just celebrate the religious holidays of this week without the religious part? I’m not a “believer” in anything supernatural.  No Samantha Stephens twitching her nose.  No Jeannie blinking her eyes.  No Casper the Friendly Ghost.  No Ghosts.  No Vampires.  No Werewolves.  No … Read more

Fred Phelps is Dead. We Can All Breathe a Sigh of Relief. Or Can We? In the Age of “ChristianMingle.com”, Maybe Not

You know, it's not the Fred Phelps "God Hates Fags"/"Matthew Shepard In Hell" style of anti-gay hate you have to worry about. Phelps is dead, and his "movement" locally probably gone with him. No one ever gave Phelps any serious consideration; his and his family's peculiar and theatrical expressive style of anti-gay sentiment was widely … Read more

Gay Men’s Relationships: Ten Ways They Differ from Straight Relationships

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As I think back on the past 24 years (by 2014) of providing couples counseling for gay male relationships, I sometimes get asked what the differences are that I see (in general) in gay male relationships that are (in general) different from straight relationships.  In no particular order, below, are some of my thoughts.  I … Read more

Tales from a Crispy Couch: A Therapist Leaves a Burned Office Building

So many of my articles begin with “as a psychotherapist in private practice…”, and what I meant by that was “at my office in West Hollywood, California”, where I made my home-away-from-home for the past 9 years. I think I spent more time in that room than in any other room in the course of … Read more

Why No One Starts Therapy in December — And Why You Should

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Happy December!  How are those New Year’s Resolutions working out for you? You know, the ones that you had in January, almost a year ago?  Do you remember what they were?  Did you make any?  Did you have goals for this year?  Did you reach those goals? The other day, I reviewed my Goals List … Read more

Powerful Thoughts for Fabulous Living at Every Age for Gay Men

Louise Hay and the Power of Thoughts Lately, I’ve been revisiting the writings of Louise Hay, the New Age spiritual author and speaker whom I’ve followed for a long time now.  She’s 84, and lives a very vibrant life in San Diego.  Her whole message is about loving the self, and using the power of … Read more