Where Can I Go for Help if I Am Struggling with My Sexual Orientation?

If you're distressed about your sexual orientation, the issues may be difficult to work through on your own. In this video, psychiatrist John Sharp, MD, talks about a good way to find help.

Transcript

00:00

If you are struggling with your sexual orientation, in my view, the best place to go for help is your doctor.

00:06

Talk about it with a health care provider that you trust and get a referral to a competent, licensed mental health

00:13

professional who can help you discover what the relevant issues are. You need to explore what's in your own psyche.

00:23

You need to understand what's relevant to you. You know, a colleague of mine when I was young in training said to me,

00:29

oh, John, I think I finally understand something. And I said, what is it? And he said, nothing has to be an issue for somebody

00:36

unless it's an issue for somebody. So what I understood him to be telling me-- and it's the truth--

00:42

is that it's only a matter of finding out what's important for you. What's linked to your distress.

00:49

What you need to do to change that you can find out in a psychotherapy, which can be focused, and it can be comforting, and it can

00:57

be enriching of you and your life and what's natural for your everyday.