|
|
'Cure' for homosexuality?
Study: Some 'gays' can become 'predominantly' heterosexual with psychotherapy
Are people born homosexual?
New research has rekindled this smoldering debate and created a firestorm within academia, reports the London daily Independent. A study based on interviews with 200 men and women who claimed to have switched their homosexual preferences demonstrates some "gays" are capable of becoming "predominantly" heterosexual through psychotherapy.
"In some of the subjects, the reports of change in sexual orientation were substantial, credible and believable," said Robert Spitzer, the professor of psychiatry at Columbia University in New York who conducted the study.
Spitzer's research is published in the current issue of Archives of Sexual Behavior.
The 200 subjects, mostly from the U.S. and Canada, participated in "self control" therapy which entailed avoiding tempting situations, stopping erotic thoughts from developing or mixing socially with straight men and women in non-sexual situations.
According to the findings, all 143 men and 57 women claimed the therapy altered their view of the same sex to some extent.
"The current, politically correct view is that this therapy never works. I think it doesn't work a lot of the time but in some people it does," said Spitzer. "I do believe that people who are bothered by their homosexuality have a right to have this therapy."
Spitzer is considered an authority on the subject. In 1973, he was instrumental in having homosexuality removed from the American Psychiatric Association's list of mental illnesses. He maintains most homosexuals are happy with their sexual preference, but a minority are not and seek to change.
Critics of "reparative therapy" pan the study as flawed and argue the technique is only effective in getting people to resist their instincts.
Spitzer disagrees.
"This study provides evidence that some gay men and lesbians are able to also change the core features of sexual orientation. Almost all of the participants reported substantial changes in the core aspects of sexual orientation, not merely overt behavior," he said.
John Bancroft, a sexologist at Indiana University's Kinsey Institute in Bloomington said he wanted to know the specifics of what the therapy involved.
"At best, it has been a long process, with a substantial minority still continuing in ongoing therapy after many years," he said.
Bancroft is also suspicious about the sample used because it consisted of men and women who sought treatment – primarily from religious organizations – because of their religious beliefs.
Supporters meanwhile hail the research for dispelling the notion homosexuality is "hard-wired" at birth, and therefore irreversible.
Related special offers: |
|
发表于 2002-12-27 16:37
境外电诈亲历者：没姿色女子 最后的归宿是
夫妻双双确诊癌症 只因数十年同一个习惯
兴旺超市本周特价
世纪超市本周特价