Counteracting the effects of invisibility in work with lesbian patients.

Lesbian women frequently experience "invisibility," the failure of others to recognize the significance of their sexuality and partnership relations. Such invisibility can have deleterious effects, such as a reduced ability to relate life stories to others and thereby to extend and integrate aspects of identity and its healthy complexity. Although this invisibility often is intertwined with coming-out phenomena, it continues to exist in many social contexts throughout life. Therefore, it is important for psychotherapists to recognize and understand the concept of invisibility so that they do not perpetuate it within the therapy. Several case vignettes are used as examples of how invisibility can affect a woman's life and functioning and can be counteracted in therapy.