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from Ethical Issues
Former APA President
Condemns APA for Barring Research
By Linda Ames Nicolosi
"The APA is too goddamn politically correct...and too goddamn obeisant to special interests!"
said Robert Perloff, 1985 President of the American Psychological Association.
Dr. Perloff delivered those uncensored remarks during a rousing speech to psychologists at the
2001 APA Annual Convention.
In an expression of public anger and frustration, Dr. Perloff condemned the APA's one-sided
political activism. Of reorientation therapy with homosexuals, he said: "It is considered
unethical...That's all wrong. First, the data are not fully in yet. Second, if the client wants a change, listen to the
client. Third, you're barring research." (1)
Dr. Perloff is a recipient of the American Psychological Foundation's Gold Medal Award
for Lifetime Achievement in Psychology in the Public Interest. In bestowing the award,
the Psychological Foundation recognized Perloff for his noted "love of social justice" and his
career-long struggle to champion "the rights and dignity of women, minorities, and homosexuals."
But, Perloff asked, "How can you do research on change if therapists involved in this work
are threatened with being branded as unethical?"
Contacted by NARTH, Dr. Perloff added the following comment in an interview:
"I believe that APA is flat out wrong, undemocratic, and shamefully unprofessional
in denying NARTH the opportunity to express its views and programs in the
APA Monitor and otherwise under APA's purview." (2)
Other Professionals who Support Client Autonomy
Robert Spitzer, M.D. , the psychiatrist who is called the "architect of the 1973 diagnostic
manual" that normalized homosexuality, expressed a similar concern two years ago about the
movement within the mental-health professions to prevent sexual-reorientation therapy. Describing his
own study, which he would later announce at a panel discussion at the 2000 Psychiatric
Association convention, Dr. Spitzer said:
"I'm convinced from people I have interviewed...many of them...have made
substantial changes toward becoming heterosexual. I came to this study skeptical. I now claim
that these changes can be sustained."
About exclusive homosexuality, he conceded, "I think, implicitly, there is something
not working" (3).
Dr. Raymond Fowler, CEO of the American Psychological
Association, says that his interpretation of the APA's position on reparative therapy is that those who wish to
explore developing heterosexual feelings or behavior have a right to do so
as part of every client's right to self-determination
(4).
Dr. Brent Scharman, former president of the Utah Psychological
Association, considers himself a "typical" psychologist--not an activist on either side of the homosexual issue--and he says that
all homosexual individuals should have the right to pursue change. It is
the client, he says, who should determine the direction of the treatment (5).
Dr. Warren Throckmorton, immediate past president of the American Mental
Health Counselors Association, studied a broad cross-section of research on sexual-orientation change.
He says such treatment has been effective, can be conducted in an ethical manner, and
should be available to those clients requesting such assistance (6).
Dr. Martin Seligman, 1998 President of the American Psychological
Association, cites research in his book What You Can Change and What You
Can't that is optimistic about change for those
who have had fewer homosexual experiences and/or some bisexual feelings (7).
In a recent paper in the premiere academic journal
Psychotherapy, and again in the American
Journal of Family Therapy, Dr. Mark Yarhouse of Regent University
made a powerful case for such therapy:
"Psychologists have an ethical responsibility to allow individuals to pursue treatment
aimed at curbing experiences of same-sex attraction...not only because it affirms the clients' right
to dignity, autonomy and agency...but also because it demonstrates regard for diversity (8)."
Endnotes
(1) "Same Office, Different Aspirations," APA
Monitor on Psychology, December 2001, p. 20.
(2) Dr. Robert Perloff, personal correspondence to NARTH, February 15, 2002.
(2) Quoted by Dr. Laura Schlessinger on her syndicated radio show, January 21, 2000.
(3) Reported in "1999 NARTH Conference, Speech by Brent Scharman," the
NARTH Bulletin, December 1999.
(4) Ibid.
(5) Throckmorton, Warren, "Attempts to Modify Sexual Orientation: A Review of
Outcome Literature and Ethical Issues," Journal of Mental Health Counseling October 1998, vol. 20, pp.
283-304.
(6) Reported in "1999 NARTH Conference, Speech by Brent Scharman," the NARTH
Bulletin, December 1999.
(7) Yarhouse, Mark, "When Clients Seek Treatment for Same-Sex Attraction: Ethical Issues in
the 'Right to Choose' Debate."
Psychotherapy vol. 35, Summer 1998, no. 2, pp. 234-259.
Updated: 2 September 2008
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