On the heels of yesterday’s guest podcast regarding the gay gene theory, the APA just released a statement that “mental health professionals should avoid telling clients that they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments.” This will definitely piss off the anti-gay organizations who sang the APA’s praises when the APA released a report in May 2009 stating there was no evidence a gay gene exists.
The APA says:
“Contrary to claims of sexual orientation change advocates and practitioners, there is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation,” said Judith M. Glassgold, PsyD, chair of the task force. “Scientifically rigorous older studies in this area found that sexual orientation was unlikely to change due to efforts designed for this purpose. Contrary to the claims of SOCE practitioners and advocates, recent research studies do not provide evidence of sexual orientation change as the research methods are inadequate to determine the effectiveness of these interventions.” Glassgold added: “At most, certain studies suggested that some individuals learned how to ignore or not act on their homosexual attractions. Yet, these studies did not indicate for whom this was possible, how long it lasted or its long-term mental health effects. Also, this result was much less likely to be true for people who started out only attracted to people of the same sex.”
The APA’s statement won’t stop all those ex-gay religious bootcamps from trying. I’m sure that kind of “therapy” generates lots of revenue for religious organizations.
Read the rest of the APA’s report here.
Great post. I'm glad they clarified this.
I don't care what the APA says. Being gay is wrong and you'll all suffer eternal life in hell.
ChristianSoldier: That comment is so old and worn out. Can you participate in the discussion without acting like a child?
There was lots of excitement from anti-gay groups when the APA released its statement that there was no evidence of a gay gene. In that statement, they also touched on the negative effects of gay reparative therapy, but anti-gay groups ignored that part. That part of the statement reads:
I'm really happy that the APA have taken this step. However, will this really stop the reparative therapy movement within the psychiatrists/psychologists? Does the APA have any teeth when it comes to this issue?