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from Social Issues
NARTH Notes - December 2001
Social Workers Recognize Chakras,
Not Sexual Reorientation
At the same time that studying techniques of sexual-reorientation therapy is generally off-limits
to students of psychology because there's "no proof" of its efficacy, social workers and marriage
and family therapists in California can now receive Continuing Education credits from the
California Board of Behavioral Sciences for studying the "scientific" subject of chakras.
Dr. Caroline Myss, provider of the seminar, holds a doctorate in Intuition and Energy Medicine.
The "seven vital energy centers of the body," according to the Dictionary of Holistic Health,
"extend from the base of spine to the crown of head. Located in the rectal area, near
the genitals, behind the navel, at the heart, at the neck, between the eyebrows, and on
the crown of the head. Each chakra corresponds to certain colors, emotions, organs,
nerve networks, and energies."
Dr. Myss's approved seminar for social-science professionals covers principles such as
"co-creation--a new tool for working with the chakras" and "resolving the paradox between free will and
the sacred contract."
One wonders what scientific studies will be conducted to "prove" the existence and location of
the seven chakras, and their usefulness to psychotherapy.
Harvard Medical School
Not So Sure What Constitutes a Deficit
Postmodern anti-realism, it appears, has infected the Harvard Medical School; in an article on
the treatment of schizophrenia, The Harvard Mental Health Letter
(August 2001, p. 1) describes the symptoms associated with schizophrenia--but seems unsure whether they should be
considered emotional deficits.
The symptoms of schizophrenia, they say, are "apathy, withdrawal, emotional
unesponsiveness, inexpressive speech, and impoverished thinking." But Harvard then prefaces this list of
psychiatric handicaps troubling the schizophrenic patient as
"so-called negative symptoms."
Is Human Potential a Scientific Concept?
NARTH's Joseph Nicolosi addressed the following letter to the editor of the American
Psychological Associations's Monitor in
Psychology, which was, unfortunately, not published:
In your April 2001 issue, Dr. Linda Garnets of UCLA ("Our Erotic Personalities
Are Unique as our Fingerprints,") says that limiting ourselves to heterosexuality places
an unnecessary constriction on human potential. When we overcome our fears of
homosexual expression, we will discover rich, creative possibilities.
Thus Dr. Garnets makes a statement of scientific fact (that people are capable of a
wide range of sexual responsiveness) and then slips directly into an area that is the realm
of philosophy and ethics (her judgment that sexual diversity is good). She ignores the
is/ought distinction--that "what is" is not necessarily "what ought to be."
Science cannot, of course, tell us whether a heterosexual ethic--or a celebration of
sexual diversity--is right or wrong.
Still, had Dr. Garnets called instead for a monagamous, heterosexual ethic, she
would have been dismissed as a heterosexist whose opinions should be limited to Sunday
sermons. But when a psychologist's moral prescription calls for
celebration of sexual diversity, her work is uncontroversial and is assumed to be a pronouncement of
science. One cannot help but be taken by the irony.
Hemingway's Transsexual Son
More and more, the media is promoting sex-change surgery as a solution to the problems of
the gender-conflicted person. The process of amputating male genitalia, surgically inserting
silicone breasts, and putting the patient on a lifetime regimen of female hormones is said to free a man to
be who he really is.
But many examples of male-to-female surgery have far from happy endings. Ernest
Hemingway's tortured son Gregory was a manic-depressive alcoholic who put his troubles aside long enough
to earn a medical degree. Gregory had four failed marriages behind him with eight children when
he asked to be surgically changed into a woman he chose to call Gloria. Friends described him
as heterosexual and said he was an excellent father, but, as he told his adult daughter, he wanted
to become her mother.
The sex change operation which took place six years ago apparently didn't change much
in Hemingway's life; recently, he was found wandering naked along a highway, carrying a dress
and high heels, and was arrested for indecent exposure, where, at the age of 69, he died of a heart
attack while in custody.
Updated: 8 February 2008
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