CNN, the Paula Zahn Now show (transcript), about a 6 minute clip, I was speechless for a few minutes afterwards. My wife and the rest of the sane people in the house were watching Idol. At last count, my daughter voted for Taylor 62 times.

Anyway, when my wife watched the clip (I taped it), she said she couldn’t get past the “ick factor” to even evaluate what was said. We discussed which was the ickiest, the tennis racket slamming the pillow while screaming at mom; or the client-cuddle technique where Richard holds his client like a baby in a kind of nursing position. We couldn’t decide.

I am reminded of a 1995 PBS Frontline documentary called Divided Memories. Part 1 of the documentary examines past-life therapy and Part 2 examines repressed memory therapy. The documentary crew was allowed to film “therapists” from the now defunct counseling group, Genesis & Associates. Genesis & Associates used something called Rage Work, that required clients to beat on pillows with bats while envisioning maltreatment from family members. Sound familiar? The two therapists who ran G&A lost their licenses and a significant malpractice action. I show Divided Memories to every intro to counseling class I teach. It is a powerful teaching tool about the proper role of therapy and the boundaries that are absolutely critical. Then we discuss why some people who were seeing the Genesis counselors described improvement. It is an amazing thing indeed how people can allow themselves to do something like Rage Work and still come away saying it was helpful. Well, at least at the time. One of the (at the time) satisfied customers on the video, later sued and as recently as 2004 described scars from her experience at Genesis.

I digress. The CNN segment focused mostly on Cohen and a current client. There were interviews with Jack Drescher and an ex-ex-gay. Drescher fudged a bit on the research but he didn’t get much face time in the segment. I thought the ex-ex-gay was articulate. I think Deborah Feyerick did a good job of keeping her journalistic game face on during the pillow assault and client hugging.

During the segment, Richard was described as one of the leaders in the reparative therapy “movement.” Did I mention that I am not a reparative therapist?

You can view the segment on the CNN website or by going to YouTube.

According to Richard Cohen, the CNN segment scheduled to air tonight will not air as planned. No word on a reschedule date.

FOLLOW UP: The Paula Zahn Now segment is now slated for tonight – 5/23/06

To give the guidelines their own identity (they were whining about being here), I created a blog for them. Moderated by Dr. Yarhouse and me, we will keep the focus on comments and endorsements regarding the guidelines.

CNN is set to air a segment regarding reparative therapy on Monday night, May 22, some time between 8-9pm. It will be during the Paula Zahn Show. The segment includes interviews with Richard Cohen, one of Cohen’s clients, Robert Spitzer and Jack Drescher.

As if to say, “me too!” The UPI is taking its turn at incorrectly reporting the Savic pheromone study. Here is what the UPI report said:

Lesbians like men – with major difference

WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) — Lesbians react to body odors like heterosexual men but with an important difference — they are not sexually aroused, Swedish researchers say.
In a study of lesbians who smelled a derivative of progesterone found in male sweat and an estrogen-like steroid found in female urine, the female compound activated the hypothalamus among the 12 lesbians, researchers at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute reported.
While the reaction was like that of heterosexual males, the lesbians’ response was different in that they were not sexually aroused, said the study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That differs from earlier studies by the Swedish team, which found gay men and heterosexual women react to male sweat in the same way.

“This observation could favor the view that male and female homosexuality are different,” lead researcher Ivanka Savic told The New York Times.

One problem: the Savic study states specifically that the participants did not report sexual arousal. None of them, not just the lesbians.

ADDENDUM: I requested a review and correction and I just heard from the UPI that they did so.