Ethically – Can My Therapist Help Me Go From Bi to Straight?
Question by Richard of Fort Bend: Ethically – can my therapist help me go from bi to straight?
Should psychotherapists be able to help unhappy bisexual people “focus” their orientation to one orientation or the other (gay or straight)?
Less than 50 yrears ago alcoholism and homosexuality were seen as moral weaknesses and sins. Homexuality was also seen by the APA as a personality disorder (mental disease).
Then alcoholism was “researched” and is now recognized as a disease, not a moral . Homosexuality has been “researched” and now is no longer a disease.
In fact, the APA has set guidelines in this area. If a person today goes to a psychologist for help changing his lifestyle from alcoholic to dry, he will be given help. But if a person today asks for help to stop acting out on homosexual urges, that psychologist is now barred by the APA from helping that person go straight. (http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/guidelines.ht…
So if I want help eliminating gay urges, my therapist can’t help. Should shrinks be able to help unhappy bisexual people “focus” their orientation?
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