"What's the deal on the 'gay-to-straight' therapy that Michele Bachmann's husband practices?"

I’ve been trying to follow the media coverage about the mental health clinic that Michele Bachmann’s husband runs, but I’m not sure what “reparative therapy” is. Can you explain?

First, let’s be clear on one point: there’s a big difference between so-called “reparative” or “gay-to-straight” therapy and legitimate psychotherapy. Many gays and lesbians, especially when they’re first coming out, find that fully qualified, gay-affirmative therapists can help them build self-esteem, overcome any shame or pain over being gay, and develop new social skills that can lead to stronger relationships. For instance, after I came out to my parents (eons ago), they “suggested” I go see a psychologist, which I did. Ironically, I wound up in the hands of a very capable gay shrink who helped me tremendously and set me on a firm path for the remainder of my twenties and beyond. Of course, not everyone who is coming out or gay needs to go visit a therapist; far from it. After all, being gay is not a mental disorder (although it was considered to be one until the mid-1970s, believe it or not).

Reparative therapy, however, is a different beast altogether. Its entire purpose is to change a person’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual, thus turning gay people into “ex-gays.” Reparative therapy is based on the erroneous assumption that being gay or lesbian is a mental disorder and that a gay people need to change their sexual—specifically, homosexual—orientation. The word “reparative” clearly implies that gays are broken and need to be fixed. Reparative therapy is usually practiced by conservative Christians, such as Michele Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, who owns a Christian counseling clinic called Bachmann and Associates. Therapists at Bachmann’s clinic are known to have practiced reparative therapy, which can include electric shocks to the hands or genitals, taking drugs to induce nausea associated with viewing homoerotic images, and masturbatory reconditioning, among other things.

The American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Medical Association are all opposed to reparative therapy. They state that there is no scientific data to support its effectiveness, and they warn that it could actually harm people. In addition, the ethics guidelines of the major mental health associations in the United States do not consider reparative therapy to be ethical and recommend that practitioners refrain from using it on gay or lesbian patients. Curiously, Mr. Bachmann has said that his clinic does not “have an agenda or a philosophy of trying to change someone” but that they perform reparative therapy at a patient’s request. "Will I address it? Certainly we'll talk about it," he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "Is it a remedy form that I typically would use? . . . It is at the client's discretion."

Perhaps this sounds reasonable for one nanosecond, but imagine that you’re a therapist and a patient comes in your office and asks you to administer a potentially harmful course of treatment that has no proof of effectiveness—a treatment that is explicitly opposed by the most prestigious professional associations in your field. Any legitimate practitioner would decline, which is why there has been such a public outcry against Dr. Bachmann and his clinic, especially in light of the significant anecdotal evidence of extreme depression, suicide attempts, and actual suicide among those clients.