by Brad larsen Psyd
MIND
Reparative Therapy
Anguish & Guilt
W
Dr. Robert Spitzer is a highly regarded psychologist who led
the movement to remove homosexuality from the The Di-
agnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
in the 1970s. At the time he was considered an ally, a champion for the
depathologizing of homosexuality. In a move that surprised gay rights
advocates and his colleagues alike, Dr. Spitzer published a paper in 2003
that supported the idea that it is possible for gay men and lesbian women
to fundamentally change their sexual orientation.
fully reviewed the data. The research was flawed in many ways. Typically,
academic papers go through a process of peer review, essentially to affirm
the legitimacy of the research and its conclusions. Not so for Dr. Spitzer’s
paper. Self-report measures were used to record what participants could
recall about their past experiences. Self-report and recall measures are
notoriously unreliable because individuals will report what is expected or
desired rather than what is true. Many participants had been in programs
such as Love In Action (think of But I’m a Cheerleader). Wrote Dr. Spitzer
in 2003, "Are the participants’ self-reports of change credible or are they
biased because of self-deception, exaggeration, or even lying? Again, it is
impossible to be sure." Many conservative and religious providers of men-
tal health services didn’t need to be sure. They heard what they wanted
and carried on with convincing gay men and women that their sexual ori-
entation was the root cause of their overall suffering and rejection from
family and God.
Proponents of reparative therapy hold that being gay is a relational prob-
lem, which occurs when a man has a poor relationship with his father or
is abused as a child. Gay men are afraid of men and that's why we pursue
them romantically. What's wrong with this theory is that there are just as
many straight men who have had poor relationships with their fathers as
there are gay men who have wonderful relationships with their fathers.
However, Dr. Spitzer wanted to understand the experience of those who
claimed to have changed their sexual orientation.
Even though Dr. Spitzer has come out against reparative therapy, men-
tal health providers continue to offer the practice. In 2011 a young gay
man from Portland sought out therapy for depression from a local psy-
chiatrist who attempted to convince him that the root of his depression is
his pathological homosexuality. Thankfully, this psychiatrist is being sued
by Southern Poverty Law Center and the Portland based Beth Allen law
firm. But there is no doubt that there are other providers of mental health
services out there who hold similar beliefs, regardless of their training.
Dr. Spitzer recruited 200 participants (143 males, 57 females), who had
claimed to have been able to change their sexual orientation through ther-
apy. The participants completed extensive phone interviews and self-re-
port measures. Dr. Spitzer's conclusion was that many of the participants
had, in effect, transitioned from gay to straight. His paper gave hope to
those who felt they needed to be straight to find acceptance and embold-
ened those who wished to provide reparative therapy.
In May of this year Dr. Spitzer finally acknowledged that his research was
poorly designed and should not be considered valid. At age 80, suffering
from Parkinson’s disease, Dr. Spitzer has come out of the closet to share
the anguish and guilt he has borne because of how others have held up his
research as proof of the possibility for change of sexual orientation for gay
men and women.
ithholding our truth is almost always damaging. Coming out
with the truth is almost always relieving. As queer people, we
know the oppression of withholding the truth about who we
are or we have faced the consequences of refusing to with-
hold. We know that some make it their life’s work to deny our
truths while others work to make room for us all to come out.
In my first year in graduate school I picked up the mantra: show me the
data. (yes, I’m a research geek). So often when research makes headlines
the reader only takes in the bold conclusions, but the scientist in me is
always skeptical. Show me the data. In other words, what are these head-
lines really based on? In the case of Dr. Spitzer's 2003 study, proponents of
reparative therapy heard what they wanted to, but they couldn't have care-
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Justout.com
Dr. Spitzer has expressed relief for finally acknowledging his truth. His
experience is not new to us. We know the joy of living our truth. g
dr. Brad larsen is a clinical psychologist resident in private practice. He will be writing
about mental health and relationships in the lGBTQ community. He can be reached at
brad@bradlarsenpsyd.com. Brad’s clinical supervisor is dr. Sharon Chatkupt lee (oregon
license Number 1599)
September 2012