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from Ethical Issues
DON'T FORSAKE HOMOSEXUALS
WHO WANT HELP
By Charles Socarides, Benjamin Kaufman,
Joseph Nicolosi, Jeffrey Satinover
and Richard Fitzgibbons
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, January 9, 1997
(c) 1997 by NARTH , A Non-Profit
Psychoanalytic, Educational Organization Dedicated to Research, Therapy
and Prevention of Homosexuality.
The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality
(NARTH), founded in 1992, is composed of psychoanalysts,
psychoanalytically-informed psychologists, certified social workers, and
other behavioral scientists, as well as laymen in fields such as law,
religion, and education.
Suppose that a young man, seeking help for a psychological condition
that was associated with serious health risks and made him desperately
unhappy were to be told by the professional he consulted that no
treatment is available, that his condition is permanent and genetically
based, and that he must learn to live with it. Perhaps this young man,
unwilling to give up hope, sought out other specialists only to receive
the same message: "Nothing can be done for you. Accept your
condition."
How would this man and his family feel when they discovered years later
that numerous therapeutic approaches have been available for his
specific problem for more than 60 years? What would be his reaction
when informed that, although none of these approaches guaranteed results
and most required a long period of treatment, a patient who was willing
to follow a proven treatment regime had a good chance of being free from
the condition? How would this man feel if he discovered that the reason
he was not informed that treatment for his condition was available was
that certain groups were, for political reasons, pressuring
professionals to deny that effective treatment existed?
Every day young men seek help because they are experiencing an unwanted
sexual attraction to other men, and are told that their condition is
untreatable. It is not surprising that many of these young men fall
into depression or despair when they are informed that a normal life
with a wife and children is never to be theirs.
This despair can lead to reckless and life-threatening actions. Many
young men with homosexual inclinations, feeling their lives are of
little value, are choosing to engage in unprotected sex with strangers.
Epidemiologists are well aware that the number of new HIV infections
among young men involved in homosexual activity is rising at an alarming
rate; within this population, the "safer sex" message is falling on deaf
ears. One recent study revealed that 38% of homosexual adolescents had
engaged in unprotected sex in the previous six months.
Young men and the parents of at-risk males have a right to know that
prevention and effective treatment are available. They have a right to
expect that every professional they consult will inform them of all
their therapeutic options and allow them to make their own choices based
on the best clinical evidence. A variety of studies have shown that
between 25% and 50% of those seeking treatment experienced significant
improvement. If a therapist feels for whatever reason that he cannot
treat someone of this condition, he has an obligation to refer the
patient to someone who will.
Also, these young men and their parents have the right to know that,
contrary to media propaganda, there is no proven biological basis for
homosexuality. A November 1995 article in Scientific American
pointed out that the much-publicized brain research by Simon Le Vay has
never been replicated and that Dean Hamer's gene study has been
contradicted by another study.
The truth is that the clinical experience of many therapists who work
with men struggling with same-sex attractions and behaviors indicates
that there are many causes and various manifestations of homosexuality.
No single category describes them all, but the disorder is characterized
by a constellation of symptoms, including excessive clinging to the
mother during early childhood, a sense that one's masculinity is
defective, and powerful feelings of guilt, shame and inferiority
beginning in adolescence.
If the emotional desire for another man is primarily a symptom of the
failure to develop a strong masculine identity, then a man's unconscious
desire to assume the manhood of another male may be more important than
the sexual act. The goal of therapy in such cases is to help the
clients understand the various causes of his feelings and to strengthen
his masculine identify. It has been our clinical experience that as
these men become more comfortable and confident with their manhood,
same-sex attractions decrease significantly. Eventually many find the
freedom they are seeking and are able to have normal relationships with
women.
Help is available for men struggling with unwanted homosexual desires.
The National Association for Research
and Treatment of Homosexuality offers information for those
interested in understanding the various therapeutic approaches to
treatment. In addition, a number of self-help
groups have sprung up to offer support to those who suffer from
this problem.
As we grieve for all those lives so abruptly ended by AIDS, we would do
well to reflect that many of the young men who have died of AIDS have
sought treatment for their homosexuality and were denied knowledge and
hope. Many of them would be alive today if they had only been told
where to find the help they sought.
Dr. Socarides is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Albert
Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Kaufman is a former clinical professor of
psychiatry at the University of California, Davis. Mr. Nicolosi is
director of a clinic in Encino, Calif. Dr. Satinover is a Westport,
Conn., psychiatrist. Dr. Fitzgibbons is director of a clinic in West
Conshohocken, Pa.
Updated: 20 February 2008
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