A. Dean Byrd, VP of NARTH, has posted a nice overview of clinical treatement of homosexuality called Treatment of Male Homosexuality: A Cognitive-Behavioral and Interpersonal Approach. In it, he outlines a four phase treament schedule, and four tools used during treatment.
The four phases are:
- Assessment – "During this phase, a thorough assessment is completed, taking into account the possible presence of psychological disorders that may co-exist with homosexual struggles. I frequently find varying degrees of narcissism, dependency, hysteria, anxiety, and depression….Emphasis during this phase is placed on the patient’s global, social and emotional functioning and does not focus narrowly on the patient’s homosexuality. "
- Strong Behavioral Approach – "The goal of this phase of therapy is to help patients organize and stabilize their lives. A clear majority of these men are "out of control." Efforts are made through behavioral strategies to help them gain some control. In this phase, behavioral control is viewed as a prerequisite to behavioral change. Patients are helped to set behavioral goals to improve socially, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, physically, and sexually."
- Interrupting Homosexual Arousal Patterns – "The emphasis during this phase of therapy is to help the patient explore, interrupt and eventually break the homosexual arousal processes. During this phase of treatment, the focus shifts from a behavioral to a cognitive emphasis."
- Forming Healthy Relationships – "The emphasis during this phase of treatment … is geared at helping patients better understand and engage in the appropriate relationship process (i.e., friendship, non-sexual intimacy with men). Problems with intimacy, self-worth, self-love, love of others, love of God, defensive detachment, distortions (unequal relationships with men as well as intensity in relationships), developing non-erotic support systems with men, assertiveness, anger (with men and women), masculinity, guilt, shame, loneliness and abandonment are explored and resolved in a group therapy context."
The four tools that he uses throughout include:
- Journaling – "Journaling is a useful way of helping homosexual men clarify their thought processes, experience and release their feelings, and generally explore issues in their lives. Instead of letting thoughts buzz around in their head, they make journal entries."
- Emotional Tracing – " Emotional tracing is an intervention that is designed to identify and appropriately respond to primarily emotional needs. I simply ask them to explore what they were feeling prior to the homosexual attraction. Oftentimes, they report feelings of boredom, depression or anger, the latter most often being a reaction to hurt, pain, fear or frustration. I will have them re-experience these earlier feelings, and explore their origins. Frequently, this process helps them to clarify the origins of their homosexual attractions and results in a diminishing of these attractions."
- Defragmentation – "This intervention is related to emotional tracing but is more active. Its purpose is to assist in the de-eroticization of same-sex relationships….The defragmentiaton process addresses the issue of fragmenting or incompletely dealing with others which I reflect back to them. It works this way: in an individual session, I will often ask that they focus on a past relationship and examine their attraction. This attraction is often focused on a particular trait or characteristic with which they are unfamiliar, they view as lacking in themselves or which they regard with simple envy."
- Spiritual Intervention – "Specific spiritual interventions include the personalizing of scriptures, and imagery involving God as a loving, caring father whose love is unconditional….Spiritual interventions help these men enjoy the process of discovery and to articulate the true self, their core values, and the basic purpose of life and to develop their spiritual nature to its greatest fulfillment. Such interventions help them clarify and trust their deepest values in a quiet way through attentive contemplation and mediation."
What about bead-rattling and chicken-sacrifice? Perhaps baying at the moon will also help?
Considering the above, I am more and more convinced that you and your christianist allies are nutjobs. And you are the enemy. I will oppose you and your evil religion with all my power.
And you are the enemy. I will oppose you and your evil religion with all my power.
Seeker, if your goal is to make more enemies for Christianity, mission accomplished.
This reads like suppression education, not therapy. Which happens to fit nicely with what I've argued in the past; that these people know that they can't "cure" homosexuality, so instead they try to encourage as much suppression of feeling as possible. That isn't healthy.
But, again, what do you care? Your only interest is in the elimination of homosexuality in culture; forcing them back into the closet via therapy is as good as anything else.
I think we should appreciate the different aspects of the ex-gay movement before painting things so broadly. Certainly Focus on the Family and its relative Exodus International do use the cause as a political and social weapon, but there are some who do not. However, I do think that NARTH's focus on spirituality shows how religiously rooted the supposedly secular group is.
Seeker, if your goal is to make more enemies for Christianity, mission accomplished.
My goal is to promote a neglected, persecuted area of valid therapy for the betterment of those who have unwanted same sex attractions. If some want to oppose that because they feel differently, that's their own choice.
Jesus came for the sick, not the presumably healthy – if self-assured gays and anti ex-gays want to rage against this, and feel smug about it, so be it.
However, I do think that NARTH's focus on spirituality shows how religiously rooted the supposedly secular group is.
That is a good point, but I think that their focus is actually clinical – it's just that they don't neglect the spiritual aspect of recovery, but rather, integrate it into a more wholistic experience, like the 12 steps.
Jesus came for the sick, not the presumably healthy – if self-assured gays and anti ex-gays want to rage against this, and feel smug about it, so be it.
Jesus may have been gay for all you know. You should thank "The Da Vinci Code" for providing evidence to the contrary. Seeker thinks A. Dean Byrd's article is a sound clinical christian treatment for homosexuality but this view is like Nurse Ratcheds' of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
You should thank "The Da Vinci Code" for providing evidence to the contrary.
Actually, when you look at the poor scholarship and assumptions of tdvc, I doubt it will do much to actually prove Jesus' heterosexuality – it's just a fun historical *fiction* story.
If Jesus were gay, then he probably would not have liked Paul the Apostle much, or vice versa. And since Jesus "was tempted in all things as we are, but without sin" there is not much chance that he was ever a homosexual, since it's a sin in the Jewish law, which he said he came to fulfill. The only sense in which he was gay was that, in taking our sin on himself on the cross, he bore the penalty and guilt for homosexuality, as well as all of our other sins. As it is written, "He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him."
geez, what a weird cult…
"a neglected, persecuted area of valid therapy"
Typical of scientific quacks everywhere: in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence and despite the verdict of the scientific community, quacks will maintain that their "therapy" or "theories" or whatever have been neglected and, even, persecuted. Since they can't get any real traction, they must resort to such false and ridiculous tactics. seeker – another snake oil salesman.
It's also the tactic of present-day xianity: claim persecution when its critics oppose its determination to impose its values and superstitions on everyone else. Oh, boo-hoo! Poor christians! So persecuted, so put-upon, so neglected, even though they make up the vast majority of Americans. What a bunch of sociopaths.
I'm straight and I don't believe in any of this stuff, I am curious as to how you guys interpret this biblical verse…
Although Jennings belittles a mere five verses, he largely depends on just a few biblical words concerning the disciple "lying close to the breast of Jesus" at the Last Supper (John 13:23,25, 21:20). This unnamed follower "whom Jesus loved" is often thought to be the writer of the Gospel of John or one of his sources.
As Jennings imagines it, this disciple was "lying in (on) Jesus's lap – that is, snuggled up to Jesus." Jesus "loved" all his colleagues, but Jennings thinks this one friendship was "expressed by physical and personal intimacy – what we might today suppose to be a homoerotic or a 'gay' relationship." Most likely it was "sexual in character," he says, though the Bible doesn't describe the "specific practices" the pair used to "celebrate" physical intimacy.
Simple. Male affection does not have to be sexual or romantic. It can even be phsyical. In fact, to read that in where it is not explicit is just wishful thinking. However, laying one's head on another man's chest does seem a bit too intimate for hetero men.
Sorry folks, it doesn't work. Three years of weekly double sessions and weekly group sessions and nearly $20,000. IT DOESN'T WORK! Find me ONE formerly gay man who is now without sexual attraction to other men and who is (if he's being honest) emotionally engaged with his wife and I'll give you a dollar. My group begged our therapist (Joe Nicolosi) to introduce us to one guy who had been successful and he never did. Give it up. You're wrong on this.