Clinical evidence in sexual orientations: definitions, neurobiological profiles, and psychological implications

Giulio Perrotta*

Purpose: The aim of this research is to detect any clinical evidence in patients on the basis of their sexual orientation choice. The starting hypothesis, taking into account the neurobiological and endocrinological data of the last twenty years on the subject of sexual orientation, is to demonstrate an increase in psychopathological indexation in non-heterosexual patients, and then to detect among the possible psychological causal hypotheses which indicators are most present in the individual clinical history, in order to demonstrate that sexual orientation other than heterosexuality is an adaptation to a previous psychological trauma with a strong emotional and sexual impact. This research work aims to answer the following one question: “Are there any dysfunctional psychological factors that occur more frequently in any of the five identified groups?”.

Methods: Clinical interview and administration of the PICI-1 and PSM-1.

Results: In the male heterosexual group, the psychopathological values were 43.96%, with a greater presence of neurotic disorders, while in the female heterosexual group, the values were 57.27%, with the same majority found in the male group. In the male homosexual group, the psychopathological values were 66%, with a greater presence of neurotic disorders, while in the female homosexual group, the values were 76.97%, with the same majority found in the male group. In the male bisexual group the psychopathological values were 76.44%, with a greater presence of neurotic disorders, while in the female bisexual group the values were 70%, with the same majority as in the male group. In the groups related to the other sexual orientations (bi-curiosity, asexuality and pansexuality), none of the respondents ticked “None of the above”, thus endorsing the thesis that at least one of these factors could be a concomitant cause of the onset of non-heterosexual preference. With reference to the results obtained from the PSM-1, to the question “Are there dysfunctional psychological factors that occur more frequently?” the ticking of “None of the above” emerges in half of the respondents and tends to decrease to zero in the non-heterosexual orientations, confirming the trend already underlined. 

Conclusions: The topic under consideration is very thorny, more for its socio-political implications than for its clinical ones. Here, in fact, is not at stake any judgment of merit or form, but the exact clinical placement in the cognitive and experiential framework. These considerations are completely detached and far from any form of judgment or condemnation ethical, moral, social and personal. On the subject of the pathologization of sexual orientations other than heterosexuality, between the two theses under discussion (confirmation, on the one hand, or disconfirmation, on the other), this research suggests the “median” position that on the one hand confirms the non-pathological nature of sexual orientations other than heterosexuality in itself (since there is no scientific evidence to the contrary), but on the other confirms the hypothesis that, on the basis of the person’s experience, psychopathological conditions can coexist that require psychotherapeutic intervention, regardless of the orientation in itself. In conclusion, therefore, significant data emerge from this research in favor of the psychological etiological hypothesis (even if the writer adheres to the multi-causal hypothesis) according to which in sexual orientations other than heterosexuality there is a marked indexation of psychopathological and dysfunctional traits compared to the heterosexual group, with the presence of causal indicators identified in PSM-1 in increasing numbers in the same non-heterosexual groups. These data would support the hypothesis that non-heterosexual orientations could actually be the adaptive consequence of a psychological trauma, with a strong emotional and sexual impact (including abuse, violence, neurobiological, hormonal, and somatic predispositions, affective-emotional dysregulation with reference figures, and socio-environmental and family readjustments), in itself therefore not pathological but circumstances favoring negative and unfavorable dynamics, of social and environmental matrix, such as to favor or aggravate psychopathological conditions, including mood, depressive, obsessive, somatic, personality and suicidal disorders.

Keywords:

Published on: Jun 23, 2021 Pages: 43-53

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/apt.000030
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