Forbes magazine dives into the controversy swirling around former DSM task force chairman Robert Spitzer, and his recanted study of “reparative therapy,” with an analysis that concludes “What’s remarkable is that this classic example of bad science was approved for presentation at a conference of the leading psychiatric association, and was subsequently published in a peer-reviewed journal of the profession.”
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It is quite possible for a person’s sexual orientation to become compromised or altered, in a way that is not genuine for the individual. Those people who want support to make adjustments for their greater well-being deserve to have a model in practice, for which to guide them. There really are some people who are not happy with the way their sexuality has developed, or unhappy with it’s natural state. Not every homosexual person is naturally homosexual, just as not every heterosexual is naturally heterosexual (late bloomers, self-discovery).
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The Spitzer paper was published in 2001. By that time, the The American Journal of Psychiatry was already a long way down the road of publishing garbage research.
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