Psychotherapy and reparative therapy for LGB
people
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The British Association for Counselling
and Psychotherapy has recently completed a systematic review of the
world’s literature on LGB people’s experiences with psychotherapy
(King et al., 2007). This evidence shows that
although LGB people are open to seeking help with mental health
problems they may be misunderstood by therapists who regard their
homosexuality as the root cause of any presenting problem such as
depression or anxiety.
Unfortunately, therapists who behave in this
way cause considerable distress. A small minority of therapists
will even go so far as to attempt to change their client’s sexual
orientation (Bartlett et al, 2001). This can be
deeply damaging. Although there is now a number of therapists
and organisation in the USA and in the UK that claim that therapy
can help homosexuals to become heterosexual, there is no evidence
that such change is possible.
The best evidence for efficacy of any
treatment comes from randomised clinical trials and no such trial
has been carried out in this field. There are however at least
two studies that have followed up LGB people who have undergone
therapy with the aim of becoming heterosexual. Neither
attempted to assess the patients before receiving therapy
and both relied on the subjective accounts of people, who were
asked to volunteer by the therapy organisations themselves
(Spitzer, 2003) or who were recruited via the Internet (Shidlow and
Schroeder, 2002).
The first study claimed that change was
possible for a small minority (13%) of LGB people, most of who
could be regarded as bisexual at the outset of therapy (Spitzer,
2003). The second showed little effect as well as considerable
harm (Shidlow and Schroeder, 2002). Meanwhile, we know from
historical evidence that treatments to change sexual orientation
that were common in the 1960s and 1970s were very damaging to those
patients who underwent them and affected no change in their sexual
orientation (King, M. and Bartlett, A., 1999).
In conclusion the evidence would suggest that
there is no scientific or rational reason for treating LGB people
any differently to their heterosexual counterparts. Socially
inclusive, non-judgemental attitudes to LGB people who attend
places of worship or who are religious leaders themselves will have
positive consequences for LGB people as well as for the wider
society in which they live.
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