People have been arguing for decades over whether or not sexual orientation can be changed. This is such a heated debate since the answer to such a question would have great social and religious ramifications. Many therapies both religious based and psychology based have been created to "convert" or "reorient" gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) persons. So, do the therapies work? The short answer is no, as a matter of fact, research tells us that these "conversion therapies" tend to do more harm than good.
Conversion therapies have been around for quite some time and received a surge after homosexuality was removed from the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). A few studies have been conducted and aimed to investigate the validity of these therapies.
Shidlo and Schroeder (2002) interviewed 202 persons that had undergone a wide variety religious or psychology based conversion therapies. They used a series of open ended questions designed to gauge the effects of the conversion experience. The average time between the participants' last conversion therapy session and the interview was 12 years. Out of the original 202 participants, only 4% reported a heterosexual shift which can be explained by normal variation. Many participants reported increased levels of depression during conversion therapy along with suicidal ideation, alienation, and a loss of religious belief.
Many supporters of conversion therapy will tend to bring up the study conducted by Robert Spitzer (2003) where he claimed that conversion therapy was successful. It is important to consider a study in its entirety before drawing conclusions from it. It is important to first point out that out of Spitzer's 200 participants 97% identified as Christian and the remaining 3% identified as Jewish; this is not representative of the normal gay population. Spitzer went on to say that conversion therapy did not cause any harm, despite previous research and recorded cases of suicide due to conversion therapies. Even with the methodological limitations to the study, Spitzer reported only an 18% conversion rate which is not high enough to merit the practice of a therapy.
It is also important to note that the APA (American Psychological Association) has deemed it unethical to perform conversion or reorientation therapies (APA 2008). So, whether or not you personally believe sexual orientation can change, current research leads us to believe that it cannot and that attempting to will only cause more harm than it's worth.
