Survey Analyzes Psychologists' Attitudes On Client-Directed Treatment Goals

April 15, 2005 - Researchers Angela M. Liszcz and Mark A. Yarhouse have published results of a survey of psychologists on their attitudes about client-directed therapy.

The survey was published in a recent issue of Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training (Vol. 42, No. 1, 111-115, 2005).

Liszcz works at the Coatesville Veterans Administration Medical Center; Yarhouse is with the Regent University School of Psychology and Counseling.

The purpose of the survey was to discover the "degree of agreement with client-directed goals among three different groups of psychologists: generalists; those self-identified as specializing in lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) issues; and psychologists who were religiously affiliated."

Psychologists were selected at random from members of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies; generalists with the American Psychological Association; and APA-affiliated psychologists who specialized in gay and lesbian issues.

Each respondent was given four vignettes involving a male who had same-sex attraction. In each case, the client had a different treatment goal. The four goals were: 1. To come out of the closet; 2. To sort out his sexual identity; 3. To decrease same-sex attractions to achieve celibacy; and 4. To change his sexual orientation.

The respondents were given four options in responding to each of these vignettes. One option was to state that homosexuality is a normal variation of sexuality and the treatment goal was to affirm the behavior; the second response was neutrality with the respondent agreeing to help the individual achieve his stated goals; the third was to state that homosexuality was a developmental abnormality and the treatment goal was celibacy; and the fourth response was that homosexual was an abnormality and the treatment goal was a change in sexual orientation.

In vignette 1, only 28% of the religious psychologists endorsed a gay-affirming response, compared to 90% for generalists and 100% for LGB specialists.

In vignette 3, 62% agreed that celibacy was a legitimate goal of treatment, compared to 5% for LGB specialists and 13% for generalists. In vignette 4, 1% of LGB specialists agreed that sexual orientation change should be the goal, compared with 57% of religious psychologists and 13% of generalists.

According to the authors, "REL clinicians, LGB specialists, and GEN show significant differences in agreement with client-directed treatment goals when responding to vignettes depicting a client presenting with various concerns."