Richard Cohen (therapist)
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Richard Cohen is an American psychotherapist who conducts reparative therapy intended to convert homosexuals to heterosexuality under the auspices of his International Healing Foundation.
Cohen used to belong to an organization called the Wesleyan Christian Community Church which practiced practicing nude psychotherapy. Cohen has said of his time in the organization, "It was like Paradise".[1] (http://www.exgaywatch.com/xgw/2003/08/wayne_besen_exg.html) Cohen joined the Unification Church in 1975. After nearly a decade of celibacy he married a Korean woman, Jae Sook, in 1982.[2] (http://www.peoplecanchange.com/About_Us_Cohen.htm) He later earned a degree in psychology and conducted change seminars for the church. In 1995 he left the church in favor of a Christian denomination. [3] (http://www.rickross.com/reference/unif/Unif12.html)
He authored a book in 2001 which calls homosexuality a same-sex attachment disorder and describes his techniques for "reparative therapy" for those who wish to make the transition to heterosexuality. He insists that homosexuality is caused either by the Freudian model of a distant father and domineering mother, or vice versa. His techniques include wearing rubber bands on the wrists, and snapping them whenever the patient feels same-sex attraction, and hitting pillows with a tennis racket to induce "intra-uterine memory recovery," in which the patient will remember something that happened while he/she was still in the womb, which caused them to become homosexual.
This is not endorsed by mainstream psychiatrists and psychologists, who feel not only that sexual orientation is immutable, but also point out that the human mind is not yet capable of forming memories while still in the womb.
Reparative therapy is rejected by nearly all psychotherapists who do not practice it as either fruitless or harmful.
The book, Coming Out Straight : Understanding and Healing Homosexuality, contains a foreword written by the anti-gay radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger. ISBN 1886939470
Wayne Besen, in the work cited below, notes Cohen's pecuniary motives by quoting him, ""Now that you have seen how I help people transition from homosexual to straight, you can buy my new book or you can purchase my therapeutic tapes, and don’t forget my hope and healing videos. I’m also available for speaking engagements. And, of course, I take credit cards. God bless. Amen. Be straight."¹
References
- Wayne Besen, Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies behind the Ex-Gay Myth, Harrington Park Press. ISBN 1560234458
External links
- About Richard Cohen (http://www.gaytostraight.org/meet_richard.asp) - mini-autobiography at his own website