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from Ethical Issues
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."
Updated: 8 February 2008
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