There is a huge difference between treating GLBT clients and treating homosexuality. Like any subset of the population, GLBT clients will have issues and concerns that are specific to them. In order for therapy to be effective, a therapist must have knowledge, sensitivity and empathy regarding these issues and concerns.
GLBT clients may have significant family issues, ranging from ongoing conflict to complete estrangement. Unfortunately, it is not unusual for parents of GLBT youth to threaten their kids with homelessness, and some kids are evicted from their family home. We help clients assess whether their family relationships are salvageable, and we work on ways to resolve conflict and improve their relationships with their families. If the family relationships are unsalvageable, we help clients heal from the emotional trauma of family rejection and we help them learn to build a new, healthy support system.
GLBT youth from ethnic or religious minority groups often find themselves rejected from their families and communities. Because of their minority and GLBT status, they are often marginalized from the dominant culture. They may even find themselves isolated within the GLBT community because of race, ethnicity, or religion. These clients need help building self-esteem, reducing isolation and forming healthy relationships in a society that has rejected them on several different fronts.
Some GLBT youth experience physical, verbal, psychological or sexual abuse from family or peers. Like any abuse victim, we help them overcome feelings of pain, shame and guilt. Like any abuse victim, they understand that the abuse was in no way their fault.
Some people believe that homosexuality is a mental disorder. For decades, the medical and mental health community defined homosexuality as a mental disorder and they tried many different strategies to “cure” homosexuals and turn them into heterosexuals. Time and time again these efforts failed.
In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a disease and it was removed from The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The American Academy Of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of School Psychologists and the National Association of Social Workers, totaling nearly a half million medical and mental health care providers, have all stated that homosexuality is not a mental disorder and thus there is no need for a “cure”.
In the past few years, some individuals and organizations have begun offering or promoting “conversion therapy”, “reparative therapy” or “restorative therapy” in order to change homosexuals into heterosexuals. According to the American Counseling Association, this is “treatment that has no empirical or scientific foundation” and “any professional who engages in conversion therapy is not offering the professional standard of care”. According to the National Association of Social Workers, “no data demonstrate that reparative or conversion therapies are effective, and in fact they may be harmful”. In addition, “NASW discourages social workers from providing treatments designed to change sexual orientation or from referring practitioners or programs that claim to do so.”.
Based on the positions of these professional organizations, it is our opinion that providing “therapy” designed to change sexual orientation is unethical and it may constitute malpractice. We have always striven to uphold the ethics of our profession and we will not knowingly engage in or abet behavior that is professionally unethical.
Anyone seeking such “therapy” must know that these “treatments” have been overwhelmingly denounced by medical and mental health experts, they have no basis in science, they pose significant risks to the client, and any Ph.D., Psy.D., LCSW or LCPC who provides such “treatment” is risking their license and a possible malpractice claim. Unlicensed individuals who offer or claim to offer mental health care or therapy risk prosecution for practicing without a license.
In short, anyone who seeks “therapy” to change sexual orientation does so at their peril.
References
American Psychological Association
Committee on Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Concerns
Just the Facts About
Sexual Orientation & Youth:
A Primer for Principals, Educators and School Personnel
American Counseling Association
Ethical issues related to conversion or reparative therapy