Christian psychotherapist caught trying to "cure" homosexuality

[RootsBooster]

Isn't that jut because you don't buy into the therapeutic model? There's a vast range of therapeutic models out there many of which I don't buy into but I don't think that people using them should be removed from the BACP register for following them.

 

Compare it to another profession-

 

A guy goes to a garage and tells them his car is broken and he wants them to fix it, they ask what's wrong and he says it just doesn't feel right. They look at the car and find nothing wrong. Should they;

 

A) Agree that there is a problem, ask him if he's had anything to do with Freemasons and tell him that they have now fixed it, then charge him (for a repair that wasn't actually carried out)

 

or

 

B) Reassure him that there appears to be nothing wrong with the vehicle but if he is still unhappy with it they can discuss what it will take to make him happy

 

?

[rubydazzler]

Perhaps the gay men are part of the genetic advantage. It's pretty intuitive that feminine men are going to be a good help taking care of the young.

Not that many gay men are really 'feminine', though and even if they were, most are exactly the same as straight men as far as taking care of aspects of child rearing and housework. So that's a redundant argument for a genetic advantage of (male) homosexuality.

 

In fact, in most aspects of life, gay and straight men are pretty much the same, except that the first lot fancies other men rather than women.

[evildrneil]

Compare it to another profession-

 

A guy goes to a garage and tells them his car is broken and he wants them to fix it, they ask what's wrong and he says it just doesn't feel right. They look at the car and find nothing wrong. Should they;

 

A) Agree that there is a problem, ask him if he's had anything to do with Freemasons and tell him that they have now fixed it, then charge him (for a repair that wasn't actually carried out)

 

or

 

B) Reassure him that there appears to be nothing wrong with the vehicle but if he is still unhappy with it they can discuss what it will take to make him happy

 

?

 

But that's not remotely what happened is is? Guy says he is a Christian is unhappy with his same sex attraction and seeks out a Christian therapist who says she can help him with it. He goes to her for therapy and surprise, surprise she follows the therapy procedure she said she would do. She wasn't removed from the BACP for what she was actually trying to do but for apparently coming to a diagnosis to early and not properly explaining her therapeutic procedure.

[gnvqsos]

Christianity is a medieval religion that is at least 500 years behind secular civilization, to paraphrase others on here.

 

It was prominent in Rome,hardly a medieval period.Islam was founded around that time,Sikhism is relatively recent,and the Moonies are very recent.

[RootsBooster]

But that's not remotely what happened is is? Guy says he is a Christian is unhappy with his same sex attraction and seeks out a Christian therapist who says she can help him with it. He goes to her for therapy and surprise, surprise she follows the therapy procedure she said she would do. She wasn't removed from the BACP for what she was actually trying to do but for apparently coming to a diagnosis to early and not properly explaining her therapeutic procedure.

 

and what was her diagnosis?

 

Does any of this sound like professional counselling?...

"Are you feeling quite lustful with the SSA?" she asks. I reply that I am – but not just lust. In my last relationship, I say, I felt profound love towards my boyfriend. "That needs to be broken," she says. "There's a darkness that's very real that keeps you as its dog, but of course our God is more powerful than that."

 

Lynne explains that people only identify as gay when they are already depressed. "There's a confusion, there's an anxiety, there's a lot of pain," she says. "Often the thought can be, 'Oh I'm confused about my sexuality so I must be gay'." She says that at the heart of homosexuality is a "deep isolation", which is, she says, "where God needs to be".

 

She moves on. "Any Freemasonry in the family?" No, I say, again asking her to elaborate. "Because that often encourages it as well. It has a spiritual effect on males and it often comes out as SSA."

 

Lynne recommends I read a book called Setting Love in Order by Mario Bergner, an "ex-gay". In it, he claims that through prayer he also managed to cure himself of HIV. So with prayer can an HIV-positive person really become negative? "Well the Lord heals, doesn't he?" she replies. "Are you HIV-positive?"

 

etc..

 

If I was unhappy with my heterosexuality, should a psychotherapist try to convert me to homosexuality?

[evildrneil]

If I was unhappy with my heterosexuality, should a psychotherapist try to convert me to homosexuality?

 

That's rather a straw man argument. For whatever reason you care to postulate heterosexuality is considered the norm and many will want to be "normal". More realistically you could ask if someone was unhappy with their homosexuality and a therapist believed they could convert them to heterosexuality and were asked for that service is their any reason that they shouldn't supply it?

[RootsBooster]

That's rather a straw man argument. For whatever reason you care to postulate heterosexuality is considered the norm and many will want to be "normal".

It's not a straw man argument at all, because I don't consider heterosexuality to be "the norm" and I would be the patient, not everyone else. Furthermore, if I was unhappy with my heterosexuality I would probably consider it even less of the norm.

 

More realistically you could ask if someone was unhappy with their homosexuality and a therapist believed they could convert them to heterosexuality and were asked for that service is their any reason that they shouldn't supply it?

Yes, I don't believe that professional psychotherapists should provide a custom reprogramming service that will try to repress healthy sexual urges, paid for by the NHS, ESPECIALLY through lying, misguiding and using the methods shown in my last post (you never answered my question about them by the way).

[evildrneil]

It's not a straw man argument at all, because I don't consider heterosexuality to be "the norm" and I would be the patient, not everyone else. Furthermore, if I was unhappy with my heterosexuality I would probably consider it even less of the norm.

 

Of course it's considered the norm to try and claim otherwise is just being obtuse!

 

Yes, I don't believe that professional psychotherapists should provide a custom reprogramming service that will try to repress healthy sexual urges, paid for by the NHS, ESPECIALLY through lying, misguiding and using the methods shown in my last post (you never answered my question about them by the way).

 

Who said it was paid for by the NHS?

 

As to the does the quote sound like ethical counselling - I have no idea I'm not a qualified counselling. However it doesn't strike me as any less ethical than telling people that their issues are due to unresolved issues around loving their mother and fearing castration by their fathers (Freudianism) or due to repressing the pain and trauma of birth (primal scream therapy). As I'm sure I've said a few times there is no one coherent and scientific model for counselling but that doesn't mean that they are useless if buy into the model in use. If you are a devout Christian then an Christian model for therapy is likely to be useful.

[RootsBooster]

Of course it's considered the norm to try and claim otherwise is just being obtuse!

I believe that any legal sexuality is the norm, that's me being obtuse is it?

 

 

Who said it was paid for by the NHS?

From the same source I gave earlier:

It transpires during the sessions that she gets most of her clients through an NHS GPs' surgery near her home. She says they refer people to her for treatment for their homosexuality. I tell her I know someone in that area that wants referring, should he just say its for anxiety and depression? "I think it would be better to say anxiety and depression initially and then we can take it from there," she replies. "He can usually get four sessions with the practice, which are paid for by the NHS."

 

 

As to the does the quote sound like ethical counselling - I have no idea I'm not a qualified counselling. However it doesn't strike me as any less ethical than telling people that their issues are due to unresolved issues around loving their mother and fearing castration by their fathers (Freudianism) or due to repressing the pain and trauma of birth (primal scream therapy).

Are you for real? You're saying that you'd need to be a qualified counsellor to realise that these are not ethical;

"people only identify as gay when they are already depressed"

 

"at the heart of homosexuality is a "deep isolation""

 

"There's a darkness that's very real that keeps you as its dog, but of course our God is more powerful than that."

 

"Freemasonry often encourages it as well. It has a spiritual effect on males and it often comes out as SSA."

 

about the story of a man who cures himself of HIV through prayer: "Well the Lord heals, doesn't he?"

 

on being asked how she views homosexuality – as a mental illness, an addiction or an anti-religious phenomenon? "It's all of that," she replies.

 

repeatedly suggesting that he must have been abused as a child: "I think you must have had quite a lot of bullying." No, I say. "There was no sexual abuse?" she asks, leaning in and squinting again. No, I repeat. "I think it will be there," she replies, dropping her voice to a concerned tone. "It does need to come to the surface."

"She looks up. I ask her again about this abuse. "I think there is something there," she says. "You've allowed things to be done to you." In the next session I ask if she thinks the abuse would have taken place within my family, because I can't remember it. "Yes, very likely," she replies."

 

To think that these statements and questions are anything BUT unethical (to say the least) is just being obtuse

As I'm sure I've said a few times there is no one coherent and scientific model for counselling but that doesn't mean that they are useless if buy into the model in use. If you are a devout Christian then an Christian model for therapy is likely to be useful.

The Christian model is unfounded, baseless and made up though. Some of it is just outright lies.

[MrSmith]

I believe that any legal sexuality is the norm, that's me being obtuse is it?

 

 

 

I don’t see why it as to be legal to be normal, if genetics are responsible for homosexuality and it can’t be altered, then genetics could just as easily be responsible for paedophilia which also cannot be altered. Maybe there was an advantage in the past in selecting a young bride which no longer applies today because we live longer. So paedophilia could be normal but illegal because we know find it morally wrong.