People will just go out of their way, to not accept themselves.

Denial can be a powerful thing.

You know, I'd love to see the actual survey questions. Perhaps the therapists treated patients who wished to change their sexual orientation. Treatment of such a patient may not actually support their conversion, it may merely provide emotional support as they take the journey. Ultimately their journey might might lead the patient to accept his/her sexuality. I could see a responsible therapist helping someone who struggles with such a deep and difficult path.

I think the first question should be, "Why do you want to change your sexual feelings?" What the hell – maybe the shrinks should work towards creating social acceptance of multiple sexual orientations, instead of hating on gay "urges".

Bitches.

@ajax: My thoughts exactly

"a full one in sex" hmmmm

my shrink told me my being gay wasn't my problem my father was.
boy did that piss daddy off when i told him. he wanted to fire the shrink but my mom told him to shut up because the shrink was right.

Further info on this can be found on the link

http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Ar.....r/2603.htm

This is, however, only the UK.

What is the situation in the USA, where, as the article makes clear, the situation is far, far worse.

And a question that I think needs answering is: How many of these people in the UK who seek to convert to straight from gay are of a religious bent? AND, how many are forced to it by their parents?

@Bruno: Yeah, I'm gonna assume "one in six," but I secretly hope that's not a typo and all those British shrinks are nastying up the couches with each other.

@rick:

Why?

Dare I ask…

More info on this topic from a Guardian discussion thread today 27/3/09

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm.....mentpage=1

Stop trying to cure homosexuality
Therapists may cause real harm by trying to change gay patients' sexual orientation, rather than offering support

There are no statistics on the number of British gays or lesbians who seek a "cure" for their homosexuality. Some may feel under pressure from friends, family and homophobic people in their local community. Some may be members of a religion or faith group and fear "losing God". But we now know that almost a fifth of registered therapists admit having tried to help gay patients reduce their sexual feelings. Four per cent say they would even attempt to change a client's sexual orientation.

The report, which was published today in the BMC Psychiatry Journal is the work of researchers from University College London who polled 1,400 mental health professionals, most of whom are employed by the NHS.

There is no proof that it is possible to change one's sexual orientation; but there is plenty of evidence that trying to do so can be harmful. A recent survey of 6,000 bisexual and lesbian women by Stonewall revealed that half of lesbian and bisexual women under 20 have self-harmed, compared with one in 15 teenagers overall. Gay and bisexual women under 20 are eight times more likely to have attempted suicide than teenagers generally. When it comes to drug use, lesbians are five times more likely to have taken drugs than women generally – with 40% drinking three times a week compared to a quarter of all women. They are also four times more likely to suffer from an eating disorder.

@Mark:

I know. It ain't just a river in Egypt. ;-)

Yes, the potential for harm in reorientation therapy makes any attempt extremely unethical– and any therapist or psychiatrist who does it SHOULD have their license revoked. However, the mental health profession is replete with unethical people, and always has been. Ironically, those who were intimately involved in project MKUltra, went on to develop some of the most widespread and effective psychopharmaceuticals in the private sector based upon the human rights violations that they perpetuated on the taxpayer's nickel.