IFS Therapy for Gay and Queer Men

Coming out is often seen as the finish line. But for many gay and queer men, it’s just the beginning.

Internal Family Systems Therapy for Gay and Queer Men: A Companion for After Coming Out explores the deeper, less visible layers of the journey: navigating friendship, intimacy, community, identity, self-worth, and the emotional burdens that can linger long after coming out.

Drawing from his experience as a gay therapist, consultant, and someone who has lived through many of the challenges he writes about, Max Littman offers a compassionate and practical guide to healing through the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy. Blending personal stories, clinical insights, case examples, and experiential exercises, this book invites readers into a new relationship with themselves—one that honors the real, messy, and beautiful complexity of being gay or queer in a world that often misunderstands us, even within our own community.

Written with warmth, honesty, and care, Internal Family Systems Therapy for Gay and Queer Men speaks to gay and queer men, therapists, and allies alike. It offers not a rigid road map, but an invitation: to meet the many parts of yourself with openness, curiosity, and tenderness, and to keep growing long after the first steps out of the closet.

Whether you are newly out or years into your journey, Internal Family Systems Therapy for Gay and Queer Men provides a steady and caring guide for the path ahead.

“Max’s commitment to his clients and consultees, and especially to the gay and queer community, is evident in this book. Although drawn to work specifically with gay and queer men, his compassion extends to all marginalized communities. He brings his keen awareness of the impact of systemic and cultural burdens on individuals and communities to his IFS therapy clients, his consultees, his teaching and leading, and now, to this book.”

—Susan McConnell, founder of Somatic IFS