People have been arguing for decades over whether or not sexual orientation can be changed. This is such a heated debate since the answer to such a question would have great social and religious ramifications. Many therapies both religious based and psychology based have been created to "convert" or "reorient" gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) persons. So, do the therapies work? The short answer is no, as a matter of fact, research tells us that these "conversion therapies" tend to do more harm than good.
Conversion therapies have been around for quite some time and received a surge after homosexuality was removed from the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). A few studies have been conducted and aimed to investigate the validity of these therapies.
Shidlo and Schroeder (2002) interviewed 202 persons that had undergone a wide variety religious or psychology based conversion therapies. They used a series of open ended questions designed to gauge the effects of the conversion experience. The average time between the participants' last conversion therapy session and the interview was 12 years. Out of the original 202 participants, only 4% reported a heterosexual shift which can be explained by normal variation. Many participants reported increased levels of depression during conversion therapy along with suicidal ideation, alienation, and a loss of religious belief.
Many supporters of conversion therapy will tend to bring up the study conducted by Robert Spitzer (2003) where he claimed that conversion therapy was successful. It is important to consider a study in its entirety before drawing conclusions from it. It is important to first point out that out of Spitzer's 200 participants 97% identified as Christian and the remaining 3% identified as Jewish; this is not representative of the normal gay population. Spitzer went on to say that conversion therapy did not cause any harm, despite previous research and recorded cases of suicide due to conversion therapies. Even with the methodological limitations to the study, Spitzer reported only an 18% conversion rate which is not high enough to merit the practice of a therapy.
It is also important to note that the APA (American Psychological Association) has deemed it unethical to perform conversion or reorientation therapies (APA 2008). So, whether or not you personally believe sexual orientation can change, current research leads us to believe that it cannot and that attempting to will only cause more harm than it's worth.
译文:
性取向能改变么？
关于性取向能否改变的问题，人们已讨论数十年。由于这一问题的结论会影响到社会和宗教，因而变得十分热门。为了能“转化”或者“重生”男女同性恋或双性恋者，许多治疗方法应运而生，宗教方面的，心理方面的都有。那么，这些方法到底有用么？答案是否定的，事实上研究显示，这些所谓的“转化治疗”不但没用，而且有害。
转化治疗已投入使用了一段时间，而在同性恋不再被列入DSM（心理疾病诊断统计手册）中时，便遭到了炮轰。对此治疗方法有效与否的调查业已开展。
2002年纽约精神病学家Shidlo和Schroder称他们所访谈的202同性恋者都经历了各种宗教和心理的转化治疗。他们用一系列的专门设计的开放性问题来衡量这些转化治疗是否有效。这些调查对象平均接受转化治疗的时间为12年。在202名参与者中，只有4%成功转化成异性恋，而这一比例本来就被视作为是正常的异化。许多参与者称，进行了转化治疗后，反而变得更沮丧、抑郁，甚至还会产生自杀、孤僻的倾向和宗教信仰的丢失。
许多转化治疗的支持者也许会就此提出精神病学家Robert Spitzer于2003年提出的理论，该理论称转化治疗是成功的。要想判定一个理论是否正确，必须要对其进行一个全盘的了解。在参与Spitzer的200个人中，97%是基督教徒，剩余的3%是犹太教徒，这并不能代表最广大的同性恋人群。Spitzer又无视早期治疗中所发生的自杀事件，而称转化治疗没有任何害处。即使使用如此有局限性的研究方法，Spitzer的研究结果中仍然只有18%被转化，而这一比例完全不够支持这一治疗方法的可行性。
同样值得注意的是，美国心理协会已将这些转化和重生的治疗方法列入“不道德”的一类。所以，不管你个人是不是相信性取向能够被转化，最近的调查告诉我们：不能。如果硬要转化的话，将会带来伤害。