Book Review - Glad Day Daily Affirmations : Daily Meditations For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, And Transgender People

Customer Review

This book is a collection of daily meditations for Gay, Lesbian, Transgendered, and bisexual people. Each day features a very short meditation: about two paragraphs, which gives insight on what it means to be a G/L/T/B person in today's world. Very positive! This book has helped me, as a gay person, examine how I live my life and how I can change for the better. Make it part of your daily ritual! This book sometimes gives a challenge for the day: i.e. one day gives us the challenge that if we hide our sexual identity from others, we are only making things more difficult for us. Others will let us take a break: i.e. today, maybe we shouldn't think about our sexuality at all. Sometimes, this little book asks us to stand up for ourselves, and perhaps confront others who have "pushed us around" in the past because of our sexuality; other times, it suggests perhaps we are not accepting straight people, or making false assumptions about what they are thinking about us. I have to say, this book is definitely encouraging. I only wish I was given this book the first day I knew about my sexuality.

Book Review - Queer Japan: Personal Stories of Japanese Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals

Customer Review

I came across this book three years ago, when I first arrived in Japan. I was reading it just as I was coming to terms with my own homosexuality. It contributed to the opening of my mind, and helped me find courage to come out and start living my life to the fullest.

Queer Japan was, at first, my only way of knowing about Japanese attitudes toward alternative lifestyles, and about Japanese gays and lesbians themselves. Since the subject is never discussed (in either a good or bad light) at work or in the media here, the book helped me realize that there were indeed a lot of Japanese people out there in situations similar to mine.

The book provides an extremely accurate portrait of how homosexuality is viewed in Japan, but that's not really the point. The point is that it allows so many individual gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual Japanese people to tell their stories -- something they are all too often forbidden to talk about.

Book Review - Lesbian And Bisexual Women's Mental Health

Examine the psychosocial factors that affect lesbian and bisexual women’s mental health
This essential guide presents up-to-date, evidence-based information that can be implemented to improve mental health services for lesbian and bisexual women in a variety of settings. It examines the systemic factors that play a role in their psychological and emotional well-being, and presents new research on protective factors that play an important role when lesbian/bisexual women face depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders.

Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Mental Health reviews the past literature on mental health and sexual orientation—citing biased and inadequate assessment, diagnosis, and treatment approaches currently in use in the care of lesbian and bisexual women. This essential guide for clinicians and researchers presents new empirical research on lesbian/bisexual women’s mental health. It explores specific challenges that face various lesbian and bisexual female populations, with research on:

dysthymia

depression and anxiety—including a chapter on depressive distress among African-American women

the way that community size and religiosity impact lesbian/bisexual women’s psychosexual development

the relationship between shame and a client’s attachment style

the mental health implications of same-sex marriage

mental health in Taiwan’s T-Po lesbian community—with a focus on community members’ sexual orientation, gender roles, and gender identity

the interconnectedness of sexual fantasies, psychological adjustment, and close relationship functioning in lesbian/bisexual women

body image and eating issues

As the diversity of this population becomes progressively more evident, so does the necessity for deeper exploration of the mental health problems facing lesbians and bisexuals. Whether you are a student, an educator, or an experienced clinician, Lesbian and Bisexual Women’s Mental Health is an essential resource for relevant and meaningful information that focuses much-needed attention on the mental health of lesbian and bisexual women.