Joseph Nicolosi

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Joseph "Joe" Nicolosi (born January 24, 1947 - March 8, 2017 ) was an American psychologist . He was a non-fiction author, president of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), and founder and director of the St. Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic in Encino, California . He was an advocate of the controversial reparative therapy , the aim of which is to overcome homosexuality, and is often referred to as a leading member of the ex-gay movement .

Therapeutic approach

Nicolosi is the founder of reparative therapy . He saw the following constellation as the cause of male homosexuality: a dominant, overly emotional mother, a lack of attachment to the father due to his detachment, absence, rejection or aggressiveness and characteristics of the boy such as sensitivity, shyness, introvertedness, imagination and artistic talent. This then leads to the fact that the boy remains forever in search of the masculine, the father, but over time confuses this with masculine sexuality. He then assumes the homosexual identity because he has a good feeling during this sexuality, which he otherwise often lacks in his life. Times of such bad feelings ( gray zone ) would then give the impulse for new homosexual contacts. In the case of female homosexuality, there are two different options: Either the bond with the mother is disturbed in very early childhood and thus the bond with the mother is traumatized, or the girl identifies with an aggressive father or partner of the mother because she does not want to become a victim like this - identification with the aggressor.

In his essay The Importance of Same-Sex Attraction , he describes his therapeutic approach to treating homosexuality among men. Homosexual attraction is an expression of a "reparative drive". For example, homosexuality is an unconscious attempt to influence a blocked self-assertion or a reaction to the role of the "false self". The homosexual act is often an apparent tool against the feeling of being deficient, insignificant or worthless. Shame is a wedge that is driven into the person and that separates the male gender identity from the wholeness of the person (“false self”). He sees homosexuality as a developmental disorder and potentially preventable. Nicolosi's therapy aims to achieve the transition to a state that he defines as the “true male self”. “Real intimacy” should be made possible through grief work and the dismantling of defense mechanisms . Ultimately, according to Nicolosi, a new, own identity would emerge based on the motto: "I am good enough".

According to Nicolosi, a homosexual identity can never be completely self-synton - that is, it can never be completely part of one's own personality. Instead, this identity always represents an ego-dystonic sexual orientation . In addition, a " homosexual lifestyle " can never be healthy. Nicolosi sees a therapeutic possibility in the sexual activity of his clients with their peers. Because each time, according to Nicolosi, they could then ask themselves again why they were doing this, what they found sexually attractive about the same-sex partner and what they were trying to compensate for. In most cases, reparative therapy views same-sex attraction as an attempt at repairing childhood trauma. These traumas can be violent, such as sexual or emotional abuse, or in the form of negative messages from parents about self and gender, happening in silence. Closely looking, identifying and resolving these emotional childhood trauma often leads to a reduction in unwanted same-sex attraction. Homosexual behavior could be an unconscious attempt at "self-repairing" feelings of masculine inferiority and these feelings could represent an attempt to satisfy normal, healthy, masculine emotional needs.

According to his definition, there are no naturally homosexual people. The homosexual identity is only a hundred years old, solely a constructivist approach, as well as a political concept that lacks any psychological basis. By nature, all people are heterosexual, although some have a homosexual problem. This is the first thing he says to affected people. Nicolosi sees homosexuality as incompatible with the Christian world order: The fact that there are naturally homosexual and heterosexual people is gay ideology, and “once we as Christians believe this, there is no longer any reason that prevents us from being gay Ideology to follow. [...] But God only created heterosexual people. ”Nicolosi says that he advocates the free decision of the client to determine the goal of his therapy himself.

His youngest patient was seven years old (“ Childhood Gender Identity Disorder”) and his oldest was 64 years old (Nicolosi: “He had no idea that he had a choice, that change was possible”). A third of his patients are "cured" after his therapy, they have full control, no more same-sex sexual contacts and the intensity and frequency of same-sex desire is reduced, but does not necessarily go away. If the patient experiences same-sex desire, then this should be a sign for him to go inside and analyze his relationships. Some of these patients begin opposite-sex relationships. A third of the patients have "significant changes". They understand their homosexuality, as Nicolosi sees it, have a certain amount of control and still have same-sex sex. The last third, which he treats, is urged to do so by parents or wives, for example; they would not want this treatment and therefore would not be motivated. Usually, however, the necessary motivation is enough to achieve the goal.

criticism

For his therapeutic approach Nicolosi was criticized by the philosopher Edward Manier. Nicolosi did not provide any scientific evidence for his theory.

Haldemann criticizes as erroneous that Nicolosi presupposes a uniform gay lifestyle , that this is a more reductionist concept than that of sexual orientation .

Fonts

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Sandomir: Joseph Nicolosi, Advocate of Conversion Therapy for Gays, Dies at 70. In: The New York Times. March 16, 2017, accessed on March 23, 2017 (English): "Joseph Nicolosi [] died on March 8. He was 70. The cause was complications of the flu, according to the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic in Encino, Calif., which he founded. [] Joseph John Nicolosi was born on Jan. 24, 1947. "
  2. ↑ An interview with Joseph Nicolosi.
  3. ^ Joseph J. Nicolosi: Shame and Attachment Loss: The Practical Work of Reparative Therapy. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL 2009, ISBN 978-0-8308-2899-9 . (Review)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 289 kB)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.josephnicolosi.com  
  4. ↑ Hamilton JH, Henry PJ (red.), 2009, Handbook of Therapy for Unwanted Homosexual Attractions. A guide to treatment , USA: Xulon Press, pp. 27-50.
  5. ↑ a b c d Joseph Nicolosi 2008 in a video interview with Michel Lizotte (2/3) (via Youtube).
    "We never tell our clients not to have homosexual activity. If they wanna do it, let them do it. It's up to you. Our job is to help them understand what they learn from it. When a client comes in and says to me "I had gay sex last night", my only question to him is: "What was going on with you just before you decided to act out? What was your psychological state of mind, that made you want ...? "Thats, where the lesson is. We don't tell our clients not to act out. They could act out, but everytime they do act out it is an opportunity to learn something about themselves. "
  6. ↑ DIJG Bulletin 2/2006 (No. 12) pp. 17-24. Online version (PDF).
  7. ↑ Joseph Nicolosi: Reparative therapy of male homosexuality , Jason Aronson, Northval, NJ, p. 13
    "I do not believe that the gay life-style can ever be healthy, nor that the homosexual identity can ever be completely ego-syntonic."
  8. ↑ Nicolosi J., What is “Reparative Therapy”? An insight into the controversy https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5527394ae4b0ab26ec1c196b/553007bde4b0d72dc645b732/553007bde4b0d72dc645b736/1405620532987/ger_reparative.pdf
  9. ↑ Joseph Nicolosi: Identity and Sexuality. Research into causes in homosexual men. In: Offensive Young Christians (ed.): Homosexuality and Christian pastoral care . Neukirchen-Vluyn 1995. ISBN 3-7615-4911-3 . P. 38.
  10. ↑ Joseph Nicolosi at narth.com: What is Homosexuality? Reorientation Therapists Disagree dated September 2, 2008.
  11. ↑ Sandra G. Boodman: vowing to Set the World Straight , Washington Post, August 16 of 2005.
  12. ^ Edward Manier "Science, Politics and Morality" ( Memento of the original from November 18, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nd.edu
  13. ↑ ibid: "The best way ... would have been to present scientific evidence that homosexuality is a developmental disorder, a sort of psychosexual" arrested development "maintaining an individual in some (androgynous?) Condition necessary and frequently sufficient for the development of homosexual erotic behavior, itself inevitably maladaptive or "ego dystonic" (emphasis not given in the original).
  14. ^ Douglas C. Haldeman: The Practice and Ethics of Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy , Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1994, Vol. 62, No. 2, p. 222
personal data
SURNAME Nicolosi, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nicolosi, Joe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American psychologist and author
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1947
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 2017