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September 27, 2005
Sexual reorientation therapy clients rate their experience with psychotherapists
Clients seeking sexual reorientation prefer therapists who will assist them
Therapists who collaborate with people seeking counseling to help them change sexual identity are rated as more helpful than therapists who do not. In contrast, therapists who oppose client’s reorientation change objectives were viewed as generally unhelpful according to a study to be published in the Winter, 2005 issue of the Journal of Psychology and Christianity, a peer reviewed scholarly publication.
The article, “Counseling practices as they relate to ratings of helpfulness by consumers of sexual reorientation therapy,” by Grove City College professors Warren Throckmorton and Gary Welton is the first study designed to examine specific therapist practices with clients seeking sexual reorientation. Prior research has sought to determine if people experience benefit or harm from reorientation therapy in a general sense. Those studies have found that some participants feel benefit and some do not. However, this study by Drs. Throckmorton and Welton asked 28 clients who sought sexual reorientation therapy to rate the helpfulness of the therapists they had consulted. The researchers also asked the participants about their therapists’ practices and attitudes. The participants reported on their experiences with 80 different therapists. The researchers then determined what practices were associated with overall ratings of helpfulness.
Ratings of helpfulness were associated with counselors who respected a client's desire to change, helped clients reflect on factors associated with the emergence of same sex attractions, suggested that same sex attractions do not, of necessity, signal a gay identity, suggested techniques to minimize same sex attractions and enhance opposite sex attractions, suggested increased non-sexual, social contact with peers of the same sex, and who were knowledgeable about gay and lesbian issues. Preferred therapists focused on sexual orientation only when the clients considered it appropriate. Participants in the study did not judge as helpful therapists who were viewed as preferring that clients affirm and declare a gay identity in opposition to client wishes.
Critics of reorientation therapists frequently assert that clients are pressured into reorientation therapy. However, none of the participants reported being pressured by therapists to enter therapy to change sexual orientation. In fact, therapists rated positively were not perceived as pushing clients to renounce a gay identity.
Most of the participants in the study viewed themselves as having changed their sexual orientation. Seventy percent of the participants who saw themselves as exclusively homosexual prior to therapy rated themselves as either exclusively or predominantly heterosexual at the time of the study.
“This study provides an initial examination of the practices of therapists who work with clients making changes in their sexual identity. Contrary to much professional and critical opinion regarding such therapy, therapists consulted by our participants who respected their objectives were described as being generally helpful therapists. When therapists departed from the objectives and perspectives of their clients, clients rated them as being generally unhelpful, ” said Warren Throckmorton, PhD, lead author of the study.
A prepublication copy of the study for media can be obtained at: www.drthrockmorton.com/therapistpractices.doc.
The Journal of Psychology and Christianity is a peer-reviewed journal published by the Christian Association of Psychological Studies. Edited by American Psychological Association Fellow, Peter Hill, PhD, the journal publishes only 28% of the articles submitted making it a highly selective journal of scholarship and research for scholars in psychology and religion.
Warren Throckmorton, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Grove City College Grove City College Grove City College