Faith and Sexual Identity
August 18, 2009
The following is an article from the Wall Street Journal several days ago (August 6th). It traces new developments that run against the corrosive trend in counseling labelled “gay affirming” therapy. “We have to acknowledge,” intones Judith Glassgold, who chaired the American Psychological Association’s task force on the issue, “that, for some people, religious identity is such an important part of their lives, it may transcend everything else.” Oh really? Are we finally acknowledging that gay men and women have a right to join “some people,” that is, people of faith? I’ll hold my breath on that announcement.
Suffice to say, the following article ties itself in knots trying to navigate the essentially unnavigable position that a lifestyle that embraces the “intrinsically disordered” is just fine, unless of course you want to have a life of faith or wish to ”frame a life of struggle as an opportunity to grow closer to God” as the journalist who had the thankless task of having to write this article phrased it.
I remember in the 2000 election George W. Bush speaking to the problem of race in America referred to the “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” I admire a well-turned phrase, particularly when it is accurate, and recalled it when reading this article. If you think of it, to all those therapists who deal in “gay affirming therapy,” aren’t they basing their approach on another form of bigotry against people of faith?
Elsewhere on this site you will see my fascination with “acedia,” a form of sin that parodies depression. My therapist allowed me to end my happy pill regimens and begin a life of “prayerful therapy,” if you will. One wonders if this will help allow my gay brothers and sisters in Christ to follow their hearts and to free themselves from the dehumanizing idea that one’s core identity is determined by one’s sexual desires, the grim determinism which motivates those who promulgate the “gay affirming” agendas in our society.
A New Therapy on Faith and Sexual Identity
Psychological Association Revises Treatment Guidelines to Allow Counselors to Help Clients Reject Their Same-Sex Attractions
The men who seek help from evangelical counselor Warren Throckmorton often are deeply distressed. They have prayed, read Scripture, even married, but they haven’t been able to shake sexual attractions to other men — impulses they believe to be immoral.
Dr. Throckmorton is a psychology professor at a Christian college in Pennsylvania and past president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association. He specializes in working with clients conflicted about their sexual identity.
The first thing he tells them is this: Your attractions aren’t a sign of mental illness or a punishment for insufficient faith. He tells them that he cannot turn them straight.
But he also tells them they don’t have to be gay.
For many years, Dr. Throckmorton felt he was breaking a professional taboo by telling his clients they could construct satisfying lives by, in effect, shunting their sexuality to the side, even if that meant living celibately. That ran against the trend in counseling toward “gay affirming” therapy — encouraging clients to embrace their sexuality.
But in a striking departure, the American Psychological Association said Wednesday that it is ethical — and can be beneficial — for counselors to help some clients reject gay or lesbian attractions.
The APA is the largest association of psychologists world-wide, with 150,000 members. The association plans to promote the new approach to sexuality with YouTube videos, speeches to schools and churches, and presentations to Christian counselors.
According to new APA guidelines, the therapist must make clear that homosexuality doesn’t signal a mental or emotional disorder. The counselor must advise clients that gay men and women can lead happy and healthy lives, and emphasize that there is no evidence therapy can change sexual orientation.
But if the client still believes that affirming his same-sex attractions would be sinful or destructive to his faith, psychologists can help him construct an identity that rejects the power of those attractions, the APA says. That might require living celibately, learning to deflect sexual impulses or framing a life of struggle as an opportunity to grow closer to God.
“We’re not trying to encourage people to become ‘ex-gay,’” (Oh, God Forbid!) said Judith Glassgold, who chaired the APA’s task force on the issue. “But we have to acknowledge that, for some people, religious identity is such an important part of their lives, it may transcend everything else.”
The APA has long endorsed the right of clients to determine their own identities. But it also warned that “lesbians and gay men who feel they must conceal their sexual orientation report more frequent mental health concerns.”
The new approach allowing therapists to help clients transcend their sexual orientation was developed by an APA task force of six academics and counselors, some active in gay-rights causes, and endorsed by the group’s governing body. Their original mandate was to respond to the growing visibility of sexual orientation “change therapists” who claim it is possible to alter arousal patterns. The task force reviewed scientific literature on change therapy and found no evidence it worked.
But the task force also gained an appreciation for the pain some men and women feel in trying to reconcile their sexual attractions with their faith. There are gay-affirming churches. But the task force acknowledged that for those from conservative faiths, affirming a gay identity could feel very much like renouncing their religious identity.
“They’re faced with a terrible dilemma,” Dr. Glassgold said. The profession has to offer alternatives, she says, “so they don’t pursue these ineffective therapies” promising change.
It isn’t a step to be taken lightly, added Jack Drescher, a psychiatrist and member of the APA task force. “We try to find a balance between what the patient says he wants, what we think is best for the patient, and what is reasonable and feasible,” Dr. Drescher said.
The APA report mentions as one possible framework the approach taken by Dr. Throckmorton, who teaches at Grove City College and has a Ph.D. in community counseling. He starts by helping clients prioritize their values. Then he shows them stock video of a brain responding to sexual stimuli. When the clients see how quickly the brain lights up, they often feel relieved, he said, because they realize that their attractions are deeply rooted.
Dr. Throckmorton says at that point, some clients choose to accept a gay identity. Others, however, say they prefer to live in accordance with their faith.
In therapy that can last years, Dr. Throckmorton says he tries to help these clients accept that their attractions will not go away — but need not define them. Many clients, he said, learn to override sexual impulses, reminding themselves that what looks like an oasis will only “take me farther away from what I really want to be,” as he puts it.
Other sexual identity counselors take a far different approach, teaching that homosexuality stems from an emotional deficit — often caused by bad parenting or childhood abuse — that can be repaired through therapy.
After reviewing 50 years of literature, the APA found no evidence that this type of “reparative therapy” is effective. The studies that claim to show success tend to be small and deeply flawed, the APA said. For instance, some rely on the therapist who has treated a patient to subjectively evaluate how well the therapy worked.
The belief that homosexuality is a “lifestyle choice” has faded significantly. But there is little consensus about how sexual orientation develops; the APA suggests it is a complex blend of genetic, hormonal and social influences.
Some gay-rights activists are skeptical of the APA’s new stance, saying they fear for the mental health of men and women who seek to suppress their sexual identity.
“It’s incredibly misguided,” said Wayne Besen, who runs a group called Truth Wins Out, which fights conversion therapy. He says trying to fight their same-sex attractions can cause immense suffering. “People have their lives destroyed,” Mr. Besen said.
Dr. Glassgold, of the APA, said there has been little research about the long-term effects of rejecting a gay identity, but there is “no clear evidence of harm” and “some people seem to be content with that path.”
Alan Chambers, author of a new memoir called “Leaving Homosexuality,” counts himself among the contented. Mr. Chambers, who runs the ministry Exodus International, which teaches people “freedom from homosexuality through Jesus Christ,” says he still struggles at times with same-sex temptation. But he finds strength and grace in resisting those impulses. When critics say he is in denial, he agrees. But it is healthy self-denial, he says, which he likens to a recovering alcoholic resisting a drink.
“There are a lot of us out there,” Mr. Chambers said, “who simply want to live in congruence with our faith.”
Corrections & Amplifications
This article on the American Psychological Association’s new approach to faith and sexuality incorrectly stated that the APA plans a broad outreach campaign. The chairwoman of the task force on sexuality said she hopes to do such a campaign, but plans have not yet been approved by the APA.
A friend at another forum put me on to this:
The APA, having dug itself into a hole is finding it very difficult to see the light.
Evidence of Mediated Change in Sexual Orientation
Little Recognition Given To Study of Sexual Reorientation Therapy at APA Convention
Findings contradict the APA position that homosexuality is not changeable.
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
TORONTO, August 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Dr. Stanton Jones and his research partner, Dr. Mark Yarhouse, were given the opportunity, on Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m., to present their findings on a study of sexual reorientation therapy, at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) in Toronto.
The paper titled, “Ex Gays? An Extended Longitudinal Study of Attempted Religiously Mediated Change in Sexual Orientation,” was presented as a part of an APA symposium titled Sexual Orientation and Faith Tradition Symposium.
The six year study concluded that there is evidence that homosexual tendencies can be controlled and redirected toward normal sexual attraction.
The research was based on a study of 98 men and women who sought help from Exodus International, a Florida-based evangelical ministry that provides sexual-orientation conversion therapy and counseling. The group seeks to help individuals troubled by their sexual orientation to achieve “freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ.”
Dr. Jones began his presentation by outlining the rejection of reorientation therapy for homosexuals by most professional mental health associations. Last week the American Psychological Association adopted a resolution urging mental health professionals to avoid telling clients that they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments.
“I had met people in the religious community who claimed to have changed,” said Dr. Jones, a professor of psychology at Wheaton College, a Christian college in Illinois. “And at the same time I saw a growing momentum behind the view that change is impossible. As a scientist it is an empirically interesting question when you see a growing momentum behind a view but you feel that you also see exceptions to that view. So I thought it would be an interesting thing to study.”
Jones then noted an important limit and hypotheses of the study: “Our study addresses the generic questions of whether sexual orientation is changeable, and whether the attempt is intrinsically harmful, by focusing only on the religiously mediated approaches to change; this is not a study of professional psychotherapy.”
In light of the newly accepted convention that homosexuality is not a mental illness, the researchers stated that, “We hypothesized that sexual orientation is not changeable, and the attempt to change is likely harmful.”
However, the study found two forms of successful reorientation away from homosexuality in the study group.
Thirty percent of the study group categorized themselves as successful in chastity: “Subjects who reported change to be successful and who reported homosexual attraction to be present only incidentally or in a way that does not seem to bring about distress, allowing them to live contentedly without overt sexual activity.”
23% of the group reported a successful conversion to normal heterosexuality: “Subjects who reported change to be successful by experiencing substantial reductions in homosexual attraction and substantial conversion to heterosexual attraction and functioning.”
Drs. Jones and Yarhouse conclude that their findings contradict the APA position that homosexuality is not changeable.
“In conclusion, the findings of this study would appear to contradict the commonly expressed view of the mental health establishment that sexual orientation is not changeable and that the attempt to change is highly likely to produce harm for those who make such an attempt.”
The report also stressed the need to keep “a range of professional and ministry options open to clients who experience same?sex attraction, are distressed by this because of their moral or religious beliefs, and who may benefit from hearing about a number of intervention modalities.”
The full text of the paper presented by Dr. Jones yesterday at the APA convention is available here.
See previous LSN coverage:
APA Officially Rejects Reorientation Treatment for Homosexuals
APA Ignored Evidence that Homosexual Behaviour is Part of Psychiatric Disorder Says Noted Psychiatirst
[...] who undermine the seriousness and suffering of same sex attractions and campaign against those who seek to free themselves from behaviors that are inimical to their maintaining a Christian …, pedophiles have organized in ways that seek to mainstream their actions and proclaim their [...]
I don’t understand why folks make such a fuss about the idea of a “gay identity.” To me, having such an identity just means being able to tell the truth about yourself without shame or embarrassment. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Am I being naive? What does “identity” mean to you?
“Having such an identity just means being able to tell the truth about yourself…”
I think there is the key, Tim. Problem is that people disagree on what is the truth about being gay. Some would say that a gay sexual orientation is both life-affirming and fulfilling — something you would want any child to grow up and be a part of.
Others point to lives shortened by depression, suicide, a host of STD’s and cancers and ask where there is ANY affirmation or fulfillment. Isn’t this all delusional, like some Frank Sinatra rat pack “swinger” coverup for booze and broads that puts a cool face on porn, prostitution and alcoholism? How does sodomizing your fellow man become an expression of human love?
The Church would ask how a gay sexual orientation leads one to the love that Thomas Aquinas and St. Paul, among others, has told us is true Christian love. If the “truth about yourself” is anything less than the truth that God demands, it is not worthy of being followed as an “identity” and is simply another secular fraud masquerading as a “Truth.”
Here is Fr. Robert Barron from a little book called “Thomas Aquinas, Spiritual Master” reminding us what a true identity in this fallen world is:
“God, who is nothing but love, has planted in the human heart an impulse to love. We are branded, marked, stamped with the image of love, and we are compelled, from our earliest days, by the hunger of love.
When we fail to love, we are miserable, and when we enter into love, we are filled with life. We are wired of self-forgetfulness, built for the journey out of ourselves, lured finally by the “love that moves the planets and the stars.” …
The greatest tragedy is the loss of vision, loss of breadth, loss of divine ecstasy, loss of soul. This mystical journey into the divine, does not take place in some rarefied spiritual realm cut off from the earth, from color and relationship and sight and sound.
Rather, it is an adventure of the entire person, of the embodied soul and the ensouled body, of the incarnate spirit that, in its strange beauty, uniquely mirrors something of God’s being.
God created us the way he did – flesh and spirit – because, like an artist, he loves wonderful hybrids, and he invites us to come even to the innermost courts of heaven clothed still in the body he gave us. To bring the grubby flesh right into the heart of the beatific vision is one of Aquinas’s humanist masterstrokes.
Enfleshed, built for ecstasy, destined for a deifying beatific vision, we are all in the image of Jesus Christ. Thomas’ “theological anthropology” can be summed up in Paul’s phrase, “to live in Christ Jesus.” To live in the self-forgetting and self-transcending love of God, to allow the divine and human to meet and mingle in one’s very flesh, to open the eyes of the soul to the vision of God is to live in Christo, It is, in a word, to be a disciple.”
THAT, in my humble opinion is what our “identity” should be. Following a gay agenda wouldn’t get you anywhere near it.
Sorry, but I don’t think I quite understand (I’m a bit slow sometimes). What I think you’re saying is that having a “gay identity” necessarily means living a ghastly and utterly miserable sort of life. This is confusing to me because the way I understand the concept of a “gay identity” is such that it entails nothing about behavior or lifestyle—it just means that one is not ashamed of being the sort of person who is attracted to members of the same sex. Understood in this way, do you think having a “gay identity” would be compatible with being a follower of the Lord?
(PS. I’ll definitely have to check Fr. Barron’s book!)
Tim wrote: “What I think you’re saying is that having a “gay identity” necessarily means living a ghastly and utterly miserable sort of life.”
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IF (and that is a big if) someone having a “gay identity” were to follow a gay lifestyle or support the gay agenda that opposes the Catholic Church, then one could posit an existence that would be inimical to being a disciple of the Lord.
There are however thousands who ARE disciples who struggle with same-sex-attractions and lead lives of holiness and saintliness. We all struggle with some form of sin and SSA, pornography, abusing our wives or husbands, doesn’t prevent any of us from being disciples of the Lord. That’s why we have that wonderful word “Recovering” that we can place in front of any sinful behavior (Recovering alcoholic, etc.)
You know one of the arguments for the gay gene or the inevitability of being gay is “Do you really think anyone would choose to be this way?” Paradoxically in the midst for advocating “Gay Rights” members of the gay political community advance the sheer misery of the gay lifestyle as an argument for supporting it. Go figure. Christians are the only ones who seem to have a solution and yet are widely regaled as being “homophobes.”