George – I have compared the repressed memory scandal to reparative therapy. There are several parallels. Reparative therapy has very little empirical backing but is based on psychoanalysis as was repressed memory therapy. Psychoanalysis is resistant to testing because the concepts change with the client and the therapist. Some behaviors can mean two things at once to analysts. Analysts believe they can inferred past events from present behavior which is exactly what repressed memory therapists and reparative therapists do. Both therapists tend to use their experience versus research. They also rely on several cases to divine a general trend.
Therapists can do good things and treatment may fail. I understand the concept, however, I would say that the therapist did not successfully help his/her client. The point is to do the right kind of good things at the right time. Society demands a better answer than ‘I followed my protocols correctly and did good things.’
Nick Cummings is a mentor to me and a good friend. I have his book and have interviewed him several times and written about him in the national press. One of my great puzzles is that Nick has not written against reparative therapy. I know he believes that therapy can assist a small number to alter sexuality (about 13% from the numbers he gave me) but he does not think that reparative drive theory explains homosexuality in general. Like Nick I think a small percentage of men and women who engage in homosexual behavior are basically straight or bisexual and therapy may help them realize a more heterosexual adjustment.

StraightGrandmother# ~ Jul 27, 2011 at 3:31 pm
George Ribble –
(1) homosexuality is a developmental issue where psycho-social growth has gone off the track from its normal progression;
What does that mean George? Is it a disorder that is part of a disease? What is the medical terminology for an “issue?”
Please state if homosexuality is a disease or not.
What you do is use a lot of words in order to avoid answering a simple question.
I simply wish for you to answer the question, and no you are not clear. To be clear the 2 choices are
Homosexuality IS a disease
Homosexuality IS NOT a disease.
Thank you George Ribble I await a short answer from you.

StraightGrandmother–I understand homosexuality to be a developmental disorder where psycho-social growth has gone off the track from its normal progression. The terms “developmental issue” and “developmental disorder” are used interchangeably in the mental health field. They are considered to be Axis II diagnoses. Sorry for the confusion.

If you’re going to remove a diagnosis from the DSM do it correctly, not fraudulently

I’m not sure what you would have had them do. It took nearly a year of debate and discussion for homosexuality to be removed. The science was reviewed and it could not support maintaining same sex orientation as a disorder. Your attempts at distracting from the facts by using words like “politics” and “fraudulent” to describe the entire process, are just that, distractions