Male to Gay Male Emotional Communication and Erich Fromm’s Notions of Being >Centrally Related< to the Patient and >Mature Love<
- This paper presents a brief reflection of some aspects of previous qualitative research, carried out by the author, on an exploratory study of the negotiation of male to gay male emotional needs within a Frommian clinical approach. In particular, Erich Fromm's notions of >central relatedness< as well >mature love< are also discussed in an attempt to link the role of such notions as part of a developing clinical analytic work with gay men. Part of the research findings showed that whilst for gay men issues of central relatedness and love are of paramount importance, in practice, their most common practical approach to negotiate their emotional needs was actually through >friendships< and >friendliness< as a key relational paradigm that enabled them negotiate their emotional needs with other men. The implications of the salience of connecting Fromm's contributions to clinical analytic work to further develop clinical work with gay men and sexual diversity in general are also emphasized.