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from Events/Announcements
NARTH President Speaks at London Conference
July 6, 2007 - A group of Christian organizations in Britain--Anglican Mainstream, Christian Action Research Education (CARE), the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, and Living Waters Ministries-- hosted a conference on homosexuality on June 29-30 in London. The following conference report was written by Lisa Severine Nolland, Ph.D.:
Dr. Nicolosi with
conference organizer Dr. Lisa Nolland |
We brought Dr. Joseph Nicolosi over from Los Angeles for a series of events in London in June, including an interview with the BBC and Premier Christian Radio. There was also a reception with senior Anglican clergy, CEOs of major Christian organizations, and members of the House of Lords, the Black Church, and the General Synod.
However, most of Dr. Nicolosi's energy was invested in the conference, "The Possibility of Change: Understanding the Causes and Healing of Homosexuality," which attracted a large audience from a dozen countries around the world. Present were strugglers, counselors, psychotherapists, clergy, academics, those married to spouses with unwanted same-sex attraction (SSA), and so forth. The standing ovation given to the speaker Saturday night indicates his message was very well-received.
Dr. Nicolosi speaks with authority on this issue. With a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, he is a licensed psychologist with 25 years of investment in working primarily with men with unwanted SSA issues - "ego-dystonic homosexuality." As founder and Clinical Director of the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic in Encino, California, he has seen well over 1000 such clients. One-third could be moved beyond unwanted SSA; another third has enjoyed significant improvement; the final third is unable to be helped by his approach.
Dr. Nicolosi is president and co-founder of NARTH - the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality - with a current membership of over 1,000, many of whom are psychiatrists, psychologists and professional counselors. He weaves together contributions from classical psychoanalysis, self-psychology, object relations and neurobiology, and uses a variation of Affect-Focused Therapy (AFT), which, in lay terms, enables the client to come to terms with the deep-seated trauma from his past which has been assuaged by maladaptive behavior. Interestingly, AFT can be used across the board, for all sorts and types of trauma. As part of the conference we were encouraged to give it a go with each other on our own "stuff." As I went to a place of crippling pain - decades ago now - I found that it actually worked. It is a journey, but significant movement was made, and I know how I can move forward.
I finish with a quote from Dr. Nicolosi.
For many years, I have found myself in the odd position of being a psychologist whose profession says homosexuality is not a problem---yet many homosexual men continue to come to me in conflict.
The fact that so many men continue to feel "dis-eased" by their homosexuality can be explained in one of two ways. Either society and the Judeo-Christian ethic have coerced these individuals into thinking they have a problem; or, the homosexual condition itself is inherently problematic.
...Today, new approaches place the homoerotic drive in better perspective by showing us that it originates from the search for health and wholeness. Many homosexuals are attracted to other men and their maleness because they are striving to complete their own gender identification.
...This psychotherapy is not a "cure" in the sense of erasing all homosexual feelings. Nevertheless, it is a valid treatment offering a framework for understanding the homosexual condition and growing in masculine identification.
...I have chosen the term "reparative therapy" to draw attention to a neglected psychoanalytic perspective of homosexuality which traces its roots to Freud. Due to incomplete development of aspects of his masculine identity, the homosexual seeks to "repair" his deficits through erotic contact with an idealized other.
...We do not attempt to propose the reparative model as the sole cause or form of homosexuality. Homosexuality is not a single clinical entity and homosexual behavior results from a variety of motivations. However, the model described here fits the majority of the treatment population I have encountered, and I have no doubt that it is the most common homosexual developmental pattern. http://www.narth.com/docs/repair.html
At the end of Saturday's session, a man told the group that he could not understand why he had not heard about this sort of thing before, and felt it only right that people be made aware of their options. And so they should be.
Updated: 8 February 2008
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