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Prominent Psychiatrist Announces
New Study Results: "Some Gays Can Change"
"Like most psychiatrists," says Dr. Robert
Spitzer, "I thought that homosexual behavior could
be resisted, but sexual orientation could not be
changed. I now believe that's untrue--some people
can and do change."
Most mental-health professional associations
have recently issued warnings about therapy to
change sexual orientation. Homosexual fantasies
and feelings can be renounced or resisted,
clinicians tend to agree --but not transformed.
But in a new study announced May 9, 2001 at the
annual meeting of the American Psychiatric
Association, Columbia University's Dr. Robert L.
Spitzer released the evidence for his conclusions
in an historic panel discussion.
He interviewed 200 subjects (143 men and 57
women) who were willing to describe sexual and
emotional histories, including their self-reported
shift from homosexual to heterosexual.
Dr. Spitzer is currently Chief of Biometrics
Research and Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia
University. But he is better known for his
scientific role in 1973--when he was "the"
instrumental figure in the American Psychiatric
Association's decision to remove homosexuality
from its diagnostic manual of mental disorders.
But on the opening day of the American
Psychiatric Association's annual conference two
years ago, he was drawn to a group of ex-gays
staging a demonstration at the entrance to the
conference building.
The picketers were objecting to the A.P.A.'s
recent resolution discouraging therapy to change
homosexuality to heterosexuality. They carried
placards saying, "Homosexuals Can Change---We
Did---Ask Us!" Others said, "Don't Affirm Me into a
Lifestyle that was Killing Me Physically and
Spiritually," and "The APA Has Betrayed America
with Politically Correct Science."
Some of the psychiatrists tore up the
literature handed out to them by the protesters.
But others stopped to offer the protestors a few
quiet words of encouragement.
Dr. Spitzer decided to find out for himself if
homosexuality might be changeable. He developed a
45-minute telephone interview which he personally
admistered to all the subjects. Most had been
referred to him by The National Association of
Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), and
by Exodus, a ministry for homosexual strugglers.
To be eligible for the study, the subjects had to
experience a significant shift from homosexual to
heterosexual attraction which had lasted for at
least five years.
Most of the subjects said their religious faith
was very important in their lives, and about
three-quarters of the men and half of the women
had been heterosexually married by the time of the
study. Most had sought change because a gay
lifestyle had been emotionally unsatisfying. Many
had been disturbed by promiscuity, stormy
relationships, a conflict with their religious
values, and the desire to be (or to stay)
heterosexually married.
Typically, the effort to change did not produce
significant results for the first two years.
Subjects said they were helped by examining their
family and childhood experiences, and
understanding how those factors might have
contributed to their gender identity and sexual
orientation. Same-sex mentoring relationships,
behavior-therapy techniques and group therapy were
also mentioned as particularly helpful.
To the researchers' surprise, good heterosexual
functioning was reportedly achieved by 67% of the
men who had rarely or never felt any opposite-sex
attraction before the change process. Nearly all
the subjects said they now feel more masculine (in
the case of men) or more feminine (women).
What, then, was Dr. Spitzer's conclusion?
"Contrary to conventional wisdom," he says, "some
highly motivated individuals, using a variety of
change efforts, can make substantial change in
multiple indicators of sexual orientation, and
achieve good heterosexual functioning."
He added that change from homosexual to
heterosexual is not usually a matter of
"either/or," but exists on a continuum--that is, a
diminishing of homosexuality and an expansion of
heterosexual potential that is exhibited in widely
varying degrees.
But, Dr. Spitzer said, his findings suggest
that complete change--cessation of all homosexual
fantasies and attractions (which is generally
considered an unrealistic goal in most therapies)
is probably uncommon. Still, when subjects did not
actually change sexual orientation--for example,
their change had been one of behavioral control
and self-identity, but no significant shift in
attractions--they still reported an improvement in
overall emotional health and functioning.
This study is believed to be the most detailed
investigation of sexual orientation change to
date, in that it assessed a variety of homosexual
indicators. Previous studies have usually
assessed only one or two dimensions of sexual
orientation, such as behavior and attraction. The
assessment tool was developed with the assistance
of Dr. Richard C. Friedman.
Dr. Spitzer used a structured interview so that
others could know exactly what questions were
asked, and what response choices were offered to
the subjects. The full data file is now available
to other researchers, including tape-recordings of
about a third of the interviews, which (with the
subjects' permission and without any reference to
their names) can be listened to by investigators
who wish to carry such research further.
He also expressed his gratitude to the National
Association of Research and Therapy of
Homosexuality (NARTH), and to the ex-gay ministry
Exodus, "without which this study would not have
been possible."
In closing, he cautioned that this study should
not be used to justify coercive treatment, or as a
basis for the denial of civil rights. "But I
believe patients should indeed have the right," he
concluded, "to explore their heterosexual
potential."
Updated: 8 February 2008
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