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dcnovice -> RE: Talk about science denial (6/12/2014 5:50:53 PM)
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FR
A few things from a recent Newsweek story on this caught my eye:
Reparative therapy—more often called “conversion therapy” in the scientific literature—has been declared invalid by nearly all the relevant medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization and the National Association of Social Workers.
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In actuality, the laws in California and New Jersey have not banned conversion therapy in entirety. What they have done, however, is prohibited it for minors. (Emphasis mine.)
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California and New Jersey, meanwhile, have followed a professional trend in recent years, where advocates have become outspoken about the risk of long-term psychological damages that can be wrought on minors forced to undergo conversion therapy by their parents or communities. One study, for example, found that conversion therapy patients are six times more likely than their homosexual peers to report depression and eight times more likely to attempt suicide.
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Many former members of the “ex-gay” community that rose to prominence in the mid-to-late 1990s agree. “I have met over 1,000 people who have been harmed and damaged by this kind of therapy,” John Paulk told Newsweek. Paulk is a former leader of one of the most influential ex-gay groups, Exodus International who has since divorced his wife and now lives as an openly gay man.
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