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(UK) Christian counsellors ban therapy aimed at 'converting' gay patients
Source: The Guardian
Christian counsellors ban therapy aimed at 'converting' gay patients
Association of Christian Counsellors bans trying to turn gay
patients straight but disgraced therapist vows to fight ruling
Patrick Strudwick
The Guardian, Monday 13 January 2014 20.58 GMT
Britain's leading body for Christian therapists has instructed its members to stop trying to turn gay patients straight using so-called "conversion therapy".
The Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC) said the practice should be stopped "in the interests of public safety", but the move has prompted a furious response from proponents of talking "cures" for homosexuality who have promised to fight for what they see as the right to therapy of anyone distressed by "unwanted same sex attraction".
The controversial practice seeks to unearth childhood traumas, which are considered by conversion therapists to have caused homosexuality. Sexual abuse, bullying and having an overbearing mother or distant father are among the supposed triggers.
Research by the US clinical psychologists Ariel Shidlo and Michael Schroeder has shown such treatment routinely led to worsened mental health, self-harm, thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts.
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Association of Christian Counsellors bans trying to turn gay
patients straight but disgraced therapist vows to fight ruling
Patrick Strudwick
The Guardian, Monday 13 January 2014 20.58 GMT
Britain's leading body for Christian therapists has instructed its members to stop trying to turn gay patients straight using so-called "conversion therapy".
The Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC) said the practice should be stopped "in the interests of public safety", but the move has prompted a furious response from proponents of talking "cures" for homosexuality who have promised to fight for what they see as the right to therapy of anyone distressed by "unwanted same sex attraction".
The controversial practice seeks to unearth childhood traumas, which are considered by conversion therapists to have caused homosexuality. Sexual abuse, bullying and having an overbearing mother or distant father are among the supposed triggers.
Research by the US clinical psychologists Ariel Shidlo and Michael Schroeder has shown such treatment routinely led to worsened mental health, self-harm, thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/13/christian-therapists-stop-conversion-therapy-turn-gay-patients-straight
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