Some mental health professionals are still attempting to help lesbian, gay and bisexual clients become heterosexual despite lack of evidence that such treatment is beneficial or even safe, according to a large survey conducted in the UK.

“It is of concern that there seems to have been no reduction in such treatments over recent decades,” given the lack of evidence for their efficacy and their potential for harm, Dr. Michael King and colleagues write in the March 26 issue of the online journal BMC Psychiatry.

“There are a lot of anecdotal accounts of harm reported by patients and therapists,” King, from University College London, told Reuters Health. For example, many patients experience increased depression and suicidal thoughts, as well as a negative impact on their sense of social isolation and shame.

The researchers sent questionnaires to 1,848 psychotherapists and psychiatrists in the UK, to examine their views and experiences.

Among the 1328 respondents, 222 (17 percent) reported having assisted at least one patient to alter their homosexual feelings. Of these, 72 percent still considered that such treatment should be available for people who want to change their orientation.

Those who had provided treatment described details on a total of 413 clients that they had helped to become heterosexual. Of the patients described, 85 were seen between 1963 and 1980, while the remainder was treated in the years since then.

Primary reasons given for seeking help were confusion about sexual orientation (57 percent), social pressures (14 percent), and mental health problems (11 percent). Other issues were religious beliefs, gender confusion, legal pressures, and difficulties in their sexual relationships.

The therapists who offered therapy “considered that a client/patient’s distress about their homosexuality was justification for intervention; they cited religious, cultural and moral values as likely causes for internal conflict,” King and colleagues note.

As to why so many therapists persist in advocating this type of treatment, King said, “Some are well meaning and try to help when a client is desperate to change - instead of helping them to see that it is society that needs to change and that they need to stop punishing themselves for the way they are made. However, others seem to have negative moral attitudes to homosexuality.”

The researcher sees education as the key to changing attitudes and practices. “Therapists should be following evidence based therapy guidelines,” he advised, “and there is no evidence supporting ‘treatment’ of homosexuality or that it is a disorder that requires intervention.”

King’s group has launched a web site, http://www.treatmentshomosexuality.org.uk, with the goals of raising awareness and gathering together oral histories from lesbian, gay and bisexual people who have undergone treatment as well as from professionals who developed and conducted such treatments.

In a prepared statement on the research, Derek Munn, Director of Public Affairs at the gay and lesbian equality organisation Stonewall, said, “So-called gay cure therapies are wholly discredited. The conclusions of this research are a welcome reminder that what lesbian and gay people need is equal treatment by society, not misguided treatment by a minority of health professionals.”

SOURCE: BMC Psychiatry 2009.