The Homophobic Discourse Remembering the Authoritarian Personality. A Case Study

n the presentation we will discuss a clinical case of Homophobia. Starting from the first session with A.H., his phobia about being gay became immediately evident. A.H. was inquiring his parents and relatives asking them, with anxiety, if they were thinking he was gay. Of course everyone was trying to keep him quiet answering no, and reassuring him. Such an answer, instead of keeping him quiet about the argument, increased his idea of being “contaminated” by homosexuality. After several sessions of clinical work, the therapist proposed to A.H. a diagnostic assessment with TAT. In the following presentation we will show the themes involved in the sessions during which TAT has been used, and the conversational approach to the diagnosis starting from the interpretation of every picture of the TAT given to A.H.. In A.H. case TAT revealed that, beyond Homophobia, A.H. showed a more general process of Phobia, and some delusional features in connection with the encounter with other people who, for some reason connected to Otherness (from skin colour to particular kind of conduct in public) could either be perceived as showing aggressivity or, vice versa, could stimulate aggressivity in A.H.. During the presentation we will also propose some clinical interpretations starting with the TAT use in the classic research by Adorno et al. on Authoritarian Personality.