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from Parenting & Family
Father Hunger and Homosexuality
by Dr. Johanna K. Tabin,
NARTH Scientific Advisory Committee
October 26, 2004 - In 1980, a psychiatrist named James Herzog wrote a
classic paper, "Sleep disturbance and father hunger in 18- to 28-month-old
boys." In it, he discussed a concept known as "father hunger."
In his paper, Herzog described the cause of night terrors in 12 boys. In every
case, these boys experienced night terrors due to an absent father in the
home.
In each of these cases, their father was absent because of recent divorce from
the mother. As a result, the boys slept at night with their mothers. During the
day they were characteristically clingy to their mothers; but they clearly did
not get comfort from sleeping with their mothers when their fathers were gone.
One little boy was even able to construct an appropriate condition for a family
in a doll house: The father and mother were in one bed and a happy little boy
was in his own.
The need on the part of these boys for an active father in their lives
corresponds to Dr. Joseph Nicolosi's recognition of a strong desire for
closeness to a remote father in cases of adult homosexuality.
In his more recent book, Father Hunger, James Herzog
establishes, in several cases, how desperately boys need closeness with their
fathers in order to feel secure in developing their own masculinity. Herzog does
not discuss the origins of homosexuality per se, being mindful perhaps, of the
Political Correctness that dominates the mental health field on this matter.
Nonetheless, he does refer to perversity. He makes it obvious that there is a
relationship between a boy's need for a constructively meaningful relationship
with a father and his growing up to enjoy healthy self-esteem, including having
a satisfying relationship with a woman.
Dr. Herzog appears reticent to discuss the psychodynamics of homosexuality but
his description of perversity is obviously about homosexual behavior. This is
the only symptom he encounters in his patients that involves a behavior
described as perverse.
As Linda Nicolosi points out (personal communication, October 21, 2004), it is
quite a stretch to believe that analysts really believe that family dynamics
never produce SSA. Objective measures which are reported in many
studies--whether genetic or otherwise biological--provide no scientific evidence
of purely biological causes of homosexuality in any case.
What we are seeing is confusion between civil rights and clinical facts. Mental
health workers have sometimes said that it does not matter what the cause is,
but this opinion differs from the traditional one of seeking to know causes in
order to give the best service to people, whatever their difficulties.
The importance of civil rights creates a shadow over exercising clinical acumen.
Time has a way of correcting such misjudgments. Meanwhile, it is possible to say
appropriately that no patient should be forced to change from homosexuality, so
long as its practice is private--as adult human sexual behavior is always
expected to be. Equally, people should be encouraged when they prefer to try to
outgrow what is essentially a problem of incomplete psychological
development.
References
Herzog, J.M. (1980). "Sleep disturbance and father hunger in 18- to 28-month-old
boys." In Solnit et al., eds., Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 35:223-230.
Herzog, J.M. (2001). Father Hunger: Explorations with Adults and Children.
Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.
Updated: 3 September 2008
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