Customer Reviews

Ex-Gays?: A Longitudinal Study of Religiously Mediated Change in Sexual Orientation

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Detailed, five-year surveys of the ex-gay movement are much needed and long overdue, and so the raw data collected by Stanton Jones and Mark Yarhouse are a welcome addition to available research. (For related research, search for books about ex-gay research by Ariel Shidlo or Jack Drescher.)

The conclusions based upon the Jones/Yarhouse data, unfortunately, appear biased: Both Jones and Yarhouse work at conservative Christian universities, and compromises in study design and execution were made in order to secure the cooperation of ex-gay members of Exodus International, an organization that claims to support people leaving homosexuality. This book quickly secured endorsements from ex-gay and antigay therapists, but support from mainstream mental-health professionals has thus far been lacking.

Watchdog web sites including Box Turtle Bulletin, Truth Wins Out and Ex-Gay Watch have found the following shortcomings, which I hope are addressed in future studies:

-- The study was conducted by two supporters of ex-gay ministries.

-- They originally sought 300 participants, but after more than a year of seeking to round up volunteers, they had to settle on only 98 participants.

-- During the course of the study, 25 dropped out, and one participant's answers were too incomplete to be used.

-- Of the remaining 72 only 11 reported "satisfactory, if not uncomplicated, heterosexual adjustment." (direct quote). Some of these 11 remained primarily homosexual in attraction or, at best, bisexual, but were satisfied that they were just slightly more attracted to the opposite sex, or slightly less attracted to the same sex.

-- After the study ended, but before the book was finished, one of the 11 wrote to the authors to say that he lied -- he really wanted to change, had really hoped he had changed, and answered that he had changed. But he concluded that he hadn't, came out, and is now living as an openly gay man.

-- Dozens of participants experienced no lessening of same-sex attraction and no increase in opposite-sex attraction, but were classified as "success" stories by Jones and Yarhouse simply because they maintained celibacy -- something many conservative gay people already do.

-- The study purposely declined to interview any ex-gay survivors: people who claim to have been injured by ex-gay programs and who have formed support groups such as Beyond Ex-Gay. Despite -- or because of -- this omission, the authors of this study make the unfounded claim that there is little or no evidence of harm resulting from unproven, unsupervised, unlicensed, and amateur ex-gay counseling tactics.

In short, the study design was so flawed that no mainstream, peer-reviewed, mental-health journal would publish it.

The raw data obtained from Jones' and Yarhouse's surveys will hopefully lead to greater understanding in future studies, despite these researchers' strained efforts to make failure to "change" sound like success.

This is clearly the best scientific study yet conducted on change of homosexual orientation and on the question as to whether attempts at such change are inherently harmful. My academic peer review found this investigation to be the most rigorous, well-designed empirical study to date on these questions. This study meets the high research standards set by the American Psychological Association that individuals be validly assessed, followed, and reported over time with a prospective, longitudinal outcome research design.

Using well-accepted, standard psychological measures, Jones and Yarhouse found solid evidence that homosexual orientation can be significantly changed. And their careful scientific search found no evidence that spiritual or psychological harm directly results from attempting such change. Because so many secular psychologists and psychiatrists mistakenly assumed the opposite of these clear scientific findings, this groundbreaking scientific study sets a new landmark in the field of therapeutic change for unwanted homosexual orientation.

Given the practical constraints facing any scientist for these research questions Jones and Yarhouse employed a prospective and longitudinal research design that measures up to widely-accepted professional standards. This study's authors are cautious, basing their conclusions only on systematically gathered and appropriately analyzed scientific data. Jones and Yarhouse assessed individuals who met fairly rigorous standards of "homosexualness," using every established measure of sexual orientation that has empirical support in past scientific research as well standard psychological measures of distress and spirituality that are among the best currently available.

This study demonstrates with convincing scientific evidence that the Christian ministry interventions of Exodus International produced strong and clinically meaningful changes in homosexual orientation in a large percentage of individuals. Furthermore this careful clinical research investigation of a significant number of individuals yielded no evidence to support the common assumption that attempts to change sexual orientation causes harm or psychological distress.

--George A. Rekers, Ph.D., FAACP
Distinguished Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science Emeritus
University of South Carolina School of Medicine

This is an excellent book on a topic that needs such research. It's good to see that there is hope for someone struggling with homosexuality and who desires to come out of that lifestyle.

Authors Stanton Jones and Mark Yarhouse in "Ex-gays?" present the most thorough longitudinal study to date addressing whether Christian counseling intervention can successfully help motivated individuals to alter aspects of their sexual orientation. Their five-year longitudinal study provides evidenced-based documentation sets the standard for future work in this controversial field.

Whether others agree or not philosophically, the "ball is in their court" to reexamine the politically driven, politically correct dogma that homosexual orientation is immutable and that restorative therapy is harmful. Jones and Yarhouse make a substantial contribution to this oft-debated area of psychological research.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, author of "Soul Physicians," "Spiritual Friends," and "Beyond the Suffering."

Jones & Yarhouse have done the research community -- and all who are seriously interested in the homosexual-legitimacy question -- a great service. This is a rigorous, well-planned, and thoroughly documented study.

As far as the comments concerning Dr. Rekers' review, though Rekers may have conservative views concerning sexuality, that does not of necessity require him to be bias, prejudiced, or bigoted. Moreover, the same accusation could be leveled at those who are promoting the homosexual agenda. What's true of the goose is also true of the gander.

This is an excellent book, and one worthy of your time and money.

This isn't science. This is nonsense dressed up as research. Shame on the authors for trying to fool people with such malarkey.

A Book of Cooked Statistics... couldn't even fill it's target study population.

As stated in a review by Michael R. Airhart (below), the statistics are so poor as to be unpublishable in a reputable peer reviewed journal. This book is nothing but a predetermined conclusion searching for justification but failing.
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-- The study was conducted by two supporters of ex-gay ministries.

-- They originally sought 300 participants, but after more than a year of seeking to round up volunteers, they had to settle on only 98 participants.

-- During the course of the study, 25 dropped out, and one participant's answers were too incomplete to be used.

-- Of the remaining 72 only 11 reported "satisfactory, if not uncomplicated, heterosexual adjustment." (direct quote). Some of these 11 remained primarily homosexual in attraction or, at best, bisexual, but were satisfied that they were just slightly more attracted to the opposite sex, or slightly less attracted to the same sex.

-- After the study ended, but before the book was finished, one of the 11 wrote to the authors to say that he lied -- he really wanted to change, had really hoped he had changed, and answered that he had changed. But he concluded that he hadn't, came out, and is now living as an openly gay man.

-- Dozens of participants experienced no lessening of same-sex attraction and no increase in opposite-sex attraction, but were classified as "success" stories by Jones and Yarhouse simply because they maintained celibacy -- something many conservative gay people already do.

-- The study purposely declined to interview any ex-gay survivors: people who claim to have been injured by ex-gay programs and who have formed support groups such as Beyond Ex-Gay. Despite -- or because of -- this omission, the authors of this study make the unfounded claim that there is little or no evidence of harm resulting from unproven, unsupervised, unlicensed, and amateur ex-gay counseling tactics.

In short, the study design was so flawed that no mainstream, peer-reviewed, mental-health journal would publish it.