Ego-dystonic Sexual Orientation - Religious Treatment

Religious Treatment

Some gay people have turned to pastoral care. Some churches publish specific instructions to clergy on how to minister to gay and lesbian people. These include Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination, produced by the Roman Catholic Church, and God Loveth His Children, produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1994, a church in the Presbyterian Church (USA) held a conference entitled “The Path to Freedom: Exploring healing for the Homosexual.” The APA encourages religious leaders to recognize that it is outside their role to adjudicate empirical scientific issues in psychology.

Mental health practitioners can incorporate religion into therapy by "integrating aspects of the psychology of religion into their work, including by obtaining a thorough assessment of clients’ spiritual and religious beliefs, religious identity and motivations, and spiritual functioning; improving positive religious coping; and exploring the intersection of religious and sexual orientation identities." Researchers have found that for some clients, identity conflicts can be reduced by reading religious texts to help clients increase self-authority and focus less on negative messages about homosexuality. Researchers also found that clients made further progress if they came to believe that regardless of their sexual orientation, God still loves and accepts them.

Alternatively, gay and lesbian people may decide to seek out minority-affirming religious groups, or change churches to those that affirm LGBT people.