Former skeptic finds ‘ex-gay’ therapy, counseling work

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–The man who led the charge in the 1970s to remove homosexuality from a list of mental disorders now says that those claiming to be "ex-gay" are telling the truth.

Robert Spitzer’s finding that some homosexuals can become heterosexuals is sure to re-ignite the debate over the effectiveness of such organizations as Exodus International, which seeks to reach homosexuals with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Three decades ago Spitzer helped lead the charge to take homosexuality off the American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental disorders.

Spitzer’s study, along with critical analysis from peers, is published in the October 2003 edition of the Archives of Sexual Behavior. He announced his findings in 2001 but had yet to publish them in an academic journal.

His study involved 45-minute telephone interviews with 200 people claiming to be former homosexuals – 143 men, 57 women. They had to meet certain criteria, such as reporting "at least some minimal change" from homosexuality to heterosexuality that lasted at least five years. For the purpose of the paper he called all forms of therapy – religious and non-religious – "reparative therapy."

"This study ... clearly goes beyond anecdotal information and provides evidence that reparative therapy is sometimes successful," Spitzer wrote. "For the participants in our study, there was no evidence of harm [from reparative therapy]. To the contrary, they reported that it was helpful in a variety of ways beyond changing sexual orientation itself."

One argument against reparative therapy is that it will trigger depression in homosexuals. Spitzer, though, found just the opposite to be true: Those who had undergone reparative therapy had experienced far less depression. Forty-three percent of males and 47 percent of females reported being "markedly" or "extremely" depressed before their therapy. But that number dropped significantly after therapy, with only 1 percent of males and 4 percent of females in the study reporting having been depressed at any time during the year preceding the interview.

"Participants reported benefit from nonsexual changes, such as decreased depression, a greater sense of masculinity in males, and femininity in females, and developing intimate nonsexual relations with members of the same sex," he wrote. "There is no doubt about what the participants in the study reported. The key question is judging the credibility of their self-reports."

Spitzer acknowledged the controversial nature of the study. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, National Association of Social Work and American Counseling Association all have issued position papers warning of possible harm of reparative therapy, he noted.

His colleagues criticized the report in a series of analytical pieces in the journal. Some said the study’s subjects had an agenda and exaggerated the truth; others said the subjects were simply "bisexual."

"When I started the study and told colleagues about it, I was greeted with anger and disbelief that I would be so foolish as to believe what ex-gays said about themselves," he wrote. "I therefore should have realized that, despite any methodological improvements in assessment of change that I could incorporate into the study (such as the use of a fully structured interview schedule with detailed questions assessing multiple components of sexual orientation), many critics would never accept the subject’s self-reports as credible."

Spitzer, who said he was skeptical of reparative therapy before beginning the study, said more studies need to be done.