Reintegrative Therapy is Not ‘Conversion Therapy’
Disclaimer: I want to preface what I say below by making it very clear that I condemn so-called “conversion therapy” practices, including coercing, shaming, or physically harming individuals into “curing” their homosexuality. I consider it a deplorable, harmful, and irresponsible form of pseudoscience that has damaged the lives of many same-sex-attracted individuals.
Doctor administering electroshock therapy to homosexual man circa 1949
Recent bills and movements—Canada’s C-4 Bill, New Zealand’s passing of Bill 56-2, and several bills being proposed and passed in the USA—have brought the issue of so-called “conversion therapy” into the limelight. Conversion therapy: For many this term invokes images of vulnerable youth and young adults with electrodes strapped to their body, or pastors ominously chanting incantations over a distressed parishioner, undergoing emotionally and physically torturous procedures to “cure” them of their homosexual attractions. Tragically, forms of ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) and “aversion therapy” practices were, in fact, used on SSA (same-sex-attracted) individuals in differing degrees for decades by medical “professionals” in an attempt to rid them of their homosexuality. Some Christian ministries still even employ “healing” sessions or retreats to “cure” SSA individuals through prayer or even exorcism, as if homosexuality was an evil spirit possessing the victim.
While such practices have been highly sensationalised, dramatised, and sometimes overblown by Hollywood recently—such as in Netflix’s recent Pray Away documentary or Boy Erased: A Memoir, a movie detailing a gay boy’s coercion into conversion therapy by his fundamentalist Christian parents—so-called conversion therapy has truthfully at times caused horrible mental and emotional damage to many SSA men and women in previous decades; this must be acknowledged. But sadly, other types of legitimate therapeutic methods, namely Reintegrative (formerly Reparative) therapy, and Biblically-based ecclesiastical counselling have been maligned and thrown as being under the same conversion therapy label, like the proverbial baby with its bath water.
So what exactly is “conversion therapy”? Well, that term is a complete misnomer, and technically isn't anything. It’s a fabricated catch-all, umbrella term used to refer to any sort of therapy or counselling that would dissuade a SSA individual from acting on their homosexual attractions or a gender-dysphoric individual from “transitioning” genders. But, more than often, it’s intentionally used conjure up the aforementioned scenes of coercive, torturous aversion and electroshock therapy in opponents’ minds, this is in the hopes of creating outrage and to persuade lawmakers to impose bans on anything deemed to fall under the conversion therapy label—which is basically anything that doesn’t affirm an individual in living a homosexual lifestyle or expressing whatever gender of their choice.
Frustratingly, still many of the major LGBT activist websites like The Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD still continue to list Reparative Therapy a form of or synonymous with conversion therapy. This is an intentionally deceptive play by them to slander Reparative Therapy as some homophobic, harmful quackery.
Man hitting SSA youth with Bible in Boy Erased to cast the homosexual demon out of him
So, if they’re not synonymous or related, what’s the difference between the purported harm of conversion therapy practices and Reintegrative Therapy? To better understand that, I think I need to first touch on the origins of Reintegrative Therapy.
“Reintegrative Therapy” is essentially the rebranding of what was formerly called “Reparative Therapy.” Reparative therapy was piloted by devout Catholic psychotherapist, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, Sr., in the 1980s–1990s. His son, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, Jr., carried on this father’s work and refined it into today’s reintegrative therapy.
The whole premise of this therapeutic method is to help willing, same-sex-attracted individuals to (1) identity and address traumas that may have occurred in childhood or adolescence, (2) then intensively work through and resolve those traumas. These traumas may have been caused by a mother, father, another family member, or even peers, and could be anything from neglect, abandonment, or physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. Many individuals have found that as they’ve worked through and resolved their traumas, their SSA has either become more manageable, diminished, or even completely disappeared in some cases.
It states the following on the Reintegrative Therapy website: “Reintegrative Therapy® uses established, evidence-based interventions, the same interventions used by other clinics throughout the world to treat trauma and addiction. As these dynamics are resolved, the client's sexuality can sometimes change on its own. Reintegrative Therapy® uses the same approach, regardless of the client's sexual orientation or gender.
“In contrast, ‘Conversion therapy’ is a general term to describe attempts to increase heterosexual attraction and decrease unwanted homosexuality with the help of a (usually unlicensed) therapist. Opponents of such therapy say it involves aversion techniques (shame, pain or coercion) in order to effect change in the client. Long-term disadvantages of aversion treatments tend to be that they are ineffectual, and possibly harmful. Although most conversion therapists do not use aversive techniques, still, there are no specific training guidelines, governing organizations, or educational requirements for a professional to call himself a ‘conversion therapist.’”
Below is a chart from the Reintegrative Therapy website with a more in-depth comparison between the differences:
Again, I cannot stress enough: Individuals who seek out Reintegrative Therapy services are adult individuals who desire to be faithful to traditional Biblical sexual ethics, do not want to act on their SSA, and willingly, voluntarily undergo this therapy. Coercion is never used or allowed, as it would never yield proper results and is obviously completely unethical. There is absolutely no shaming, shocking with electrodes, or casting out of demons involved. If you’re interested in seeing exactly how the process the works, here’s a great video from the Reintegrative Therapy website Videos section:
Regardless of whatever path an SSA individual may choose, whether to act or not to act on those attractions, we should respect that individual’s right to self-determination. The Left and LGBT activists love to promote the philosophy of “Live your truth” or “You do you,” but doesn’t this extend to SSA individuals who do not want to act on their homosexual attractions and want to be faithful to a Biblical sexual ethic? Don’t we have the right to “live our truth” if that is what makes us the most happy? We should be allowed the same dignity to live our lives and to seek out the support that makes us happiest; this includes our choice of therapeutic method that works best for us. We deserve to be happy too in living the way that brings us the most joy. Many within our community have found that Reintegrative Therapy provides the best option for us, that aligns with our moral and religious values. I hope the reader would consider this the next time some activist group tries to ban all types of therapy or other resources that don’t completely affirm living a homosexual or gender-non-conforming lifestyle.
