Posted on 09/30/2011 10:59:53 AM PDT by NYer
WHEATON, Illinois, September 29, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Therapists who favor normalizing homosexuality say that it is impossible to change sexual orientation, and that the attempt to change is inherently harmful. However, the final results of a long-term study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy has joined hundreds of other studies in concluding that such therapy is both possible and potentially well-indicated for many individuals.
Psychologists Stanton L. Jones of Wheaton College and Mark A. Yarhouse of Regent University are the authors of the longitudinal study, which tracked individuals who sought sexual orientation change through involvement in a variety of Christian ministries affiliated with Exodus International.
The authors note that the study overcomes a primary criticism of same-sex attraction (SSA) therapy data - that the results are not adequately documented over a period of time - by assessing its 98 candidates over a period of six to seven years after therapy concluded.
Jones and Yarhouse’s results show the majority of candidates were successful in their goal of changing sexual orientation, and that the attempt was not harmful on average.
Of the original 98 subjects, 61 were successfully categorized for general outcome at the last assessment. Fifty-three percent were categorized as successful outcomes; specifically, 23 percent reported success in the form of an essential change to heterosexual orientation and functioning, while an additional 30 percent reported no longer identifying as homosexual while maintaining stable behavioral chastity. At the six-year mark, 20 percent reported fully embracing a gay self-identification.
Meanwhile, the authors say the measure of psychological distress did not, on average, reflect increases in psychological distress associated with the attempt to change.
“These results do not prove that categorical change in sexual orientation is possible for everyone or anyone, but rather that meaningful shifts along a continuum that constitute real changes appear possible for some,” states a press release announcing the study. The release also emphasizes, “the results do not prove that no one is harmed by the attempt to change, but rather that the attempt does not appear to be harmful on average or inherently harmful.”
Dr. Jones told LifeSiteNews.com that the study was likely skewed toward optimism towards therapy, as it wasn’t able to count candidates who dropped out early. However, he said, the study still stands out from the crowd for its value as a long-term assessment of the viability of same-sex attraction therapy.
“The ‘silver standard’ [of SSA therapy studies] is a longitudinal study that follows people repeatedly over multiple years and also a prospective study that assesses people from the beginning of change. To the best of our knowledge, ours is the first such study,” wrote Jones in an email Thursday.
“The ‘gold standard’ would be a completely experimental and longitudinal study that would also randomly assign participants to different treatment groups with highly defined treatments; we believe such study would actually be impossible to perform.”
A meta-analysis of over 100 years’ worth of research into therapy for unwanted same-sex attraction published in June 2009 concluded that homosexuality was not immutable, and that individuals seeking change could benefit from therapy. The report, published by NARTH, included 600 reports from clinicians, researchers, and former clients principally published in professional and peer-reviewed journals.
Although the American Psychological Association discourages mental health professionals from offering sexual reorientation therapy, the group’s official position on such therapy states that there is “insufficient evidence” to either approve or discredit the practice.
Homosexuality was declassified as a mental disorder in 1973 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the universal standard for classification of mental illness, after years of high-pressure lobbying by gay rights activists. The change sparked a policy shift in other top professional associations, which now uniformly oppose SSA therapy.
Dr. Robert Spitzer, who was in charge of the DSM change, reversed his position on therapy for unwanted same-sex attraction nearly 30 years later to support such therapy based on his own research.
Ping!
Many? How many? And how many cannot be helped by therapy?
Righto.
I doubt very many people believe NO homosexual can change orientation OR that ALL homosexuals can or will do so.
The question therefore obviously becomes one of percentage or ratio.
Sacrelige!!!! Now that the homosexuals have everything they want, psychology has discovered that homosexuality isn’t inherent, because if it were, wouldn’t it be an illness that should be cured? Now, it’s just a choice. Oh, those fun loving homosexuals! They just sit around the house at night, watching tv and eating popcorn and then they go to the bath house and stick their sex organs into each other’s mouths and anal canals. Sorry folks....that’s what they do to deserve all the attention.
I fear making more of this than it says, reading our desires rather than what is before us.
In reference to the "gloss" part of the header, I think it says no more than "REMAINING homosexual is a choice for SOME, as far as we know."
I firmly believe it is a choice and literally an aquired taste.
I sincerely believe that anyone that can learn to like Scotch can learn to like sex with their own sex. As disgusting as that sounds. At its core is physical intimacy with another body that is Not Yours. And that is a part of sexual desire.
I don’t have time nor the inclination to get into the subtleties of this issue, but I do believe homosexuality can be acquired. I’ve seen it happen to people who have no moral compass and a “why not try it” open minded position. That is why there is more of it now (and there really is) than there used to be. It is still just as deviant as it ever was, however.
90% of homosexual men have had sexual relations with women at some point in their lives.
Any desire of the flesh grows if indulged, or if the mind dwells on it or shrinks if the opposite. Any type of perverse sex is no different.
“83% of all statistics seen on the internet are made up on the spot.”
-Abraham Lincoln
"Fifty-three percent were categorized as successful outcomes; specifically, 23 percent reported success in the form of an essential change to heterosexual orientation and functioning, while an additional 30 percent reported no longer identifying as homosexual while maintaining stable behavioral chastity [at the 6-year mark]..
The authors also note that theirs is the only study, so far, to have been carried forward for 6 or 7 years' assessment, and it involved less than 100 persons. So they do not makes inflated claims purporting to account for the potential for change in the whole gay population.
Five years ago, a young man I know well, now almost 19, identified himself as gay. Now he doesn't. Nor has he sought "therapy" of any sort. It's just a change over time. I have read that in males, of those who identify as gay at age 14, only 50% will still call themselves gay at 19; and only half of that number will identify as gay at age 25. That's a very substantial reduction with no apparent "cause" other than, possibly, increased emotional maturity.
It may be of interest that the Catholic Church, for one, does not take any stand for or against what's called "reparative therapy",i.e., psychotherapeutic approaches to change a disordered orientation per se. On this view, it is not morally obligatory to "become heterosexual"; it IS morally obligatory to be chaste. This means, for wedded husband and wife to have sexual relations only with each other, within marriage; and for all others to refrain from sexual relations.
The same question can be asked of alcoholics and drug addicts. Not everyone can be (or in some cases wants to be) helped by therapy.
Such an absolutist position is typical of those who would use and abuse "science" to advance their agenda for political reasons.
Of course, going queer is a choice just like molesting children (which 80% of male homos have done) is a choice, or having sex with a sibling or an animal is a choice. Homosexuals can, and do, change once they get adequate pyschological assistance.
That is exactly my problem, the absolutists on both sides. I think there is something going on in the environment perhaps, something that is, in fact, increasing the number of effeminate men and butch women. I believe it is a problem that needs to be studied, and CURED. The problem with this, however, is that neither extreme side would agree with it, and therefore, no one is going to look into this. It may be the only birth defect that never gets any research money in to how to solve/cure it.
Although our marriage has been 100% monogamous and loving for 36 1/2 years, my wife still insists I´m gay.
What are you gonna do?...
*** Therapists who favor normalizing homosexuality say that it is impossible to change sexual orientation.***
Bunk. You sexual orentation is what you were imprinted with in your early life, like some homos who were raised by the maiden aunt.
Years ago I read of an interesting case in WWII. A young man was drafted into the military and almost immediatly they knew something was wrong with him.
He had NO interest in women.
He was born way back in the hills and never had been near a woman, His mother died when he was born and he was raised only by men.
He was not homo. When shown a picture of a good looking woman there was no reaction. When shown a picture of a cow, instant excitement.
His mother died when he was young
My lesbian daughter was “imprinted” exactly the same way her three straight sisters were by their mother, namely me.
She was never molested or harmed in any way. She was raised in a stable, loving Christian home.
Homosexuality is a mental illness.
>>>I firmly believe it is a choice and literally an aquired taste.
I sincerely believe that anyone that can learn to like Scotch can learn to like sex with their own sex. As disgusting as that sounds. At its core is physical intimacy with another body that is Not Yours. And that is a part of sexual desire.
I don’t have time nor the inclination to get into the subtleties of this issue, but I do believe homosexuality can be acquired. I’ve seen it happen to people who have no moral compass and a “why not try it” open minded position. That is why there is more of it now (and there really is) than there used to be. It is still just as deviant as it ever was, however.<<<
I was about to comment about this, but you’ve written my thoughts more eloquently than I could. I’ve seen it, too. There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence of what happens in prison or single-sex dominated groups, too, when people get sexually aroused, let alone what happens sometimes among early adolescents. You’re spot on.
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