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Walt Odets

Goodreads Author

Born

in Los Angeles, The United States

Website

https://www.waltodets.com/

Genre

Gay and Lesbian

Member Since

February 2019

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/goodreadscomwalt_odets

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Walt Odets is a clinical psychologist in private practice who has worked with and written about the psychological, developmental and social lives of gay men for more than three decades.

His seminal book, In the Shadow of the Epidemic: Being HIV-Negative in the Age of AIDS, which Duke University Press published in 1995, was selected by The New York Times as one of the “Notable Books of the Year.” The Advocate magazine reported that In the Shadow of the Epidemic was also the No. 1 bestselling book among gay men that fall. The following year, OUT magazine named Odets "one of The 100 most impressive, influential and controversial gay men and lesbians of 1996.”

Odets’s recent work has focused on the psychological aftermath of the HIV epidemic, th
Walt Odets is a clinical psychologist in private practice who has worked with and written about the psychological, developmental and social lives of gay men for more than three decades.

His seminal book, In the Shadow of the Epidemic: Being HIV-Negative in the Age of AIDS, which Duke University Press published in 1995, was selected by The New York Times as one of the “Notable Books of the Year.” The Advocate magazine reported that In the Shadow of the Epidemic was also the No. 1 bestselling book among gay men that fall. The following year, OUT magazine named Odets "one of The 100 most impressive, influential and controversial gay men and lesbians of 1996.”

Odets’s recent work has focused on the psychological aftermath of the HIV epidemic, the long-standing childhood and adolescent stigmatization and trauma experienced by young gay men, and the conventional idea of “the homosexual” and its negative influences on gay identities, self-realization and relationships between men. This work has culminated in a new book, OUT OF THE SHADOWS: Reimagining Gay Men’s Lives, which examines the hopes and new possibilities for gay men today. The book will be released by both Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Penguin Random House (U.K.), in June 2019.

Walt Odets earned his B.A. in Philosophy from Wesleyan University in 1969, and after two decades working as a photojournalist and pilot, a Ph.D. from San Francisco's Professional School of Psychology, in 1989. A public advocate, he has consulted for the Shanti Project of San Francisco and the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) in New York City, and been a member of the AIDS Task Force of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA). He has also served as a clinical supervisor for the psychology intern program at Berkeley's Pacific Center, and as a member of the United States Congress, Office of Technology Assessment evaluation workshop on AIDS prevention.

A seasoned and engaging public speaker, Odets has presented to a broad range of groups, including The Gay Men's Health Summit, the California Department of Health Services, the American Psychological Association, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA), the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the National Gay and Lesbian Health Conference, the American Psychiatric Association, the San Francisco Department of Public Health, the State of New York Department of Health, the Yale University Institution for Social and Policy Studies, the Stanford Medical School and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Walt Odets is the son of playwright Clifford Odets and stage actress Bette Grayson. He was born and raised in Los Angeles and New York, and presently lives in Berkeley, California, where he writes and maintains a private practice in psychotherapy.

Website: www.waltodets.com
Facebook: @waltodetsauthor
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Walt Odets’s books

Average rating: 4.43 · 1,265 ratings · 203 reviews · 7 distinct works • Similar authors

	Out of the Shadows: Reimagining Gay Men's Lives 4.43 avg rating — 1,244 ratings — published 2019 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In the Shadow of the Epidemic: Being HIV-Negative in the Age of AIDS (Series Q) 4.37 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 1995 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Second Decade of AIDS: A Mental Health Practice Handbook it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1995	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Illogical Possibilities it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Photographs by Walt Odets 1967-2009 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Other evidence: Photographs 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reconnaissance: Photographs 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Walt Odets's Blog

National Book Critics Circle nomination

This week the NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE announced the five 2019 finalists for nonfiction books. I'm happy to say that my recent book, Out of the Shadows: Reimagining Gay Men's Lives, was one of the five. I'm glad not only for the book itself, but for the expressed interest in gay men's lives. Members of NBCC, thank you! The winner from among the five finalists will be announced on March 12 in N Read more of this blog post »

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Published on January 14, 2020 08:09

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Quotes by Walt Odets (?)

“I sometimes find myself offering an obvious, often-ignored observation to men who are attempting to grieve disappointing lives: we can only start from where we are, never from where we wish we were.”
― Walt Odets, Out of the Shadows: The Psychology of Gay Men's Lives

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“We don’t change just because we understand something, we change when we put our understanding to use.”
― Walt Odets, Out of the Shadows: Reimagining Gay Men's Lives

tags: gay, inspirational, psychology, self-improvement

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“Despite the illusion imparted by a diagnosis, people do not usually “have” an emotional issue in the sense of having a cold or a bacterial infection.8 Unlike medical diagnoses, few psychiatric diagnoses describe an underlying cause with a clearly useful course of treatment or a reliable prognosis. Depression, as one example, is not something people have, it is an experience, a way of experiencing oneself and the world. Some people characteristically—or in the shorter term, in an acute response to life events—have depressed feelings and sometimes live out the feelings in ways that are problematic and self-perpetuating.”
― Walt Odets, Out of the Shadows: The Psychology of Gay Men's Lives

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