Walt Odets, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist and Author
 

INTRODUCTION

With a private practice in clinical psychology, I provide individual psychotherapy and couples counseling at my Berkeley, San Francisco East Bay office.  I have also written extensively about the psychological and social issues of gay men and gay communities, HIV prevention, and the US AIDS epidemic.

I have practiced psychology in the Bay Area since 1987.  During this time, I have also  consulted for the Shanti Project of San Francisco; served on the AIDS Task Force of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association; consulted for the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) in New York City; served as a clinical supervisor for the psychology intern program at Berkeley's Pacific Center for Human Growth; and served as a member of the United States Congress, Office of Technology Assessment evaluation workshop on AIDS prevention.  I am currently a member of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA), Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapist's Association ( GAYLESTA), Therapist's Circle of San Francisco's New Leaf Services, and a peer reviewer for the journal AIDS Education and Prevention. 

I received a B.A. in Philosophy from Wesleyan University (1969); and an M.A. in psychology (1983), and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology (1989), both from San Francisco's Professional School of Psychology.  I am a California licensed psychologist, PSY-12715.
 

PSYCHOTHERAPY AND COUPLES COUNSELING

I conduct a full-time private practice at my Berkeley office, in the San Francisco East Bay.  About three-quarters of my practice is devoted to individual psychotherapy with gay men and counseling for gay couples.  The remainder of my therapy hours are devoted to women, the parents of gay men, and others.

My theoretical approaches to therapy and counseling vary with the client, the issues at hand, and our mutual objectives for the therapy or counseling. I am theoretically eclectic, drawing on psychodynamic, developmental, humanistic, narrative, client-centered, and family-systems theory.

For additional discussion on therapy and counseling, please see the Psychotherapy page on the site.  You may also contact me directly if you would like to discuss possibly working together.  
 

BOOKS

I have authored one book, In the Shadow of the Epidemic: Being HIV-Negative in the Age of AIDS, a discussion of gay lives, relationships, and sexuality in the epidemic.  Some of the book - the Table of Contents, Introduction, Chapter Two on The Psychological Epidemic, and the Epilogue - is available on the site in full text.  An overview of Shadow is available on this link.

I have also contributed chapters to seven other books.  Several of these are intended for a general gay and lesbian audience.  A Queer World: The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, edited by Martin Duberman at NYU, covers a very broad range of gay, lesbian and gender issues, including sexual and gender identities; the issue of gender itself; gay-related social, economic and political matters; sexual politics; the psychology and science of sexual orientation; aging; and AIDS.  Policing Public Sex: Queer Politics and the Future of AIDS Activism, edited by Queer Bedfellows, is concerned with the topics of public sex, AIDS activism, the policing of sexuality,  and queer politics.  Acting on AIDS: Sex, Drugs & Politics, edited by Joshua Oppenheimer and Helena Reckitt and based on the 1996 London conference of the same name, presents contributions on the science of HIV transmission; new directions in prevention; the global AIDS epidemic; and traditions of gay activism.

Other books I have contributed to are aimed more at a "clinical" audience: psychologists, therapists and others working with gay men.  These include Therapists on the Front Line: Psychotherapy with Gay Men in the Age of AIDS , published by American Psychiatric Press, which discusses the broad issues of gay men and AIDS; specific treatment modalities (including individual and group therapies); specific treatment populations (African American gay men, Latino gay men, rural gay men, gay male survivors of sexual abuse, and HIV-negative gay men); and the impact of HIV-positive clients on the HIV-negative and -positive therapist.  The Second Decade of AIDS: A Mental Health Practice Handbook, published by Hatherleigh Press and coedited with Michael Shernoff, discusses a wide range of clinical issues related to psychotherapy with various populations living in the epidemic.

A full listing of books may be found on the Books page of the site.  
 

ARTICLES

The Articles page provides an overview of articles I have written on a variety of subjects, including gay male psychological development; gay male communities; gay male relationships; psychotherapy and couples counseling with gay men; and AIDS prevention.  They have appeared in several publications, including POZ magazine, The Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association , Focus: A Guide to AIDS Research and Counseling, The San Francisco Sentinel, Harper's Magazine, Out magazine, AIDS & Public Policy Journal, and Hatherleigh Press.

A complete list of articles is available on the Articles page, and the full text is available for many of them.
 

TALKS

The Talks page provides an overview of oral presentations on a range of subjects, including psychotherapy and couples counseling with gay men; the psychological dynamics of gay male relationships; substance use and abuse; new models for HIV-prevention; and the politics of AIDS in gay communities.  These presentations have been made to a broad range of groups, including The Gay Men's Health Summit, the California Department of Health Services, the American Psychological Association , conferences of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), the Terrence Higgins Trust , the AIDS Committee of Toronto, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC ), the Annual Conference on Social Work and AIDS, the National AIDS Update Conference, the San Francisco Department of Public Health, the American Academy of Psychotherapists, the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health, the State of New York Department of Health, the Gay and Lesbian Addiction Studies Conference of City University of New York, the Yale University Institution for Social and Policy Studies, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the National Gay and Lesbian Health Conference, and the American Psychiatric Association. 

A list of presentations is provided on the Talks page, and the full text is available for many of them.

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Copyright 1989-2004 Walt Whitman Odets