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Does Conversion Therapy Work? Fifty Years of Research, No Reliable Evidence
Researchers have formally studied whether "conversion therapy" can change a young person's attractions or how they see themselves since the 1960s, and the answer has not moved.
Researchers have formally studied whether "conversion therapy" can change a young person's attractions or how they see themselves since the 1960s, and the answer has not moved.
In 2009, an American Psychological Association task force reviewed 83 peer-reviewed studies stretching back nearly five decades and found none built on sound methods that showed lasting change.
Every major U.S. medical group that has studied the question since, including the AMA, the AAP, and SAMHSA, reached the same conclusion. The single study defenders still cite as proof was retracted by its own author in 2012.
For a Christian parent deciding what will help their child, the honest answer is that evidence for change has never shown up, though real, faith-centered support still can.
Quick Takeaways
An American Psychological Association task force reviewed 83 peer-reviewed studies from 1960 to 2007 and found no methodologically sound study showing lasting change in attraction or personal identity.
The AMA, AAP, AACAP, and SAMHSA each separately concluded the practice does not work and can cause harm.
The most cited "success" study, published in 2003, was retracted by its own author in 2012.
Research consistently finds higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behavior in minors pushed through these practices, not the change that was promised.
None of this requires setting faith aside. Faith-focused medical and counseling bodies who reviewed the same evidence reached the same conclusion from within their own convictions.
What Fifty Years of Research Actually Found
In 2009, a task force convened by the American Psychological Association reviewed 83 peer-reviewed studies published between 1960 and 2007, the largest look at the evidence to date. It did not find a single study built with the safeguards good science requires: a comparison group, a representative sample, and outcomes checked by someone other than the participant. Studies that did report positive results shared the same weaknesses: no control group, participants who already wanted that outcome, and success measured only by self-report. The task force also found minors pushed through these efforts showed higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behavior. The full mental health research on these practices lays out the complete picture.
Every Major Medical Group Reviewed the Same Evidence and Landed in the Same Place
This is not one organization's opinion. The American Medical Association has stated the practice has no valid medical basis. The American Academy of Pediatrics concluded in 2018 that it is not effective and can be harmful. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reached parallel conclusions after reviewing the same research. A closer look at what the APA, AMA, and AAP actually say shows these groups started from the same data and found no evidence for the outcome the practice promises, alongside documented risks and a measurable increase in suicide risk among minors who went through it.
The Study Its Own Author Walked Back
For years, one 2003 study was treated as the exception, proof that change was possible for people who wanted it enough. Its author interviewed people who said they had changed and took their word for it. There was no comparison group and no outside way to check the claims. In 2012, the same psychiatrist retracted his own conclusions in public, saying they did not hold up. A study without a control group and without outside verification cannot prove a treatment worked, no matter how sincerely its participants believe it did.
What This Means for Your Family
None of this asks a Christian parent to stop trusting scripture or to stop loving their child exactly as they are. It asks for the same standard applied to any other treatment: does the evidence support it? Fifty years of looking has found no such evidence, and real harm instead. Where a state has passed a law limiting the practice for minors, it did so because of findings like these, not politics. CT4F's guide to faith-based alternatives to conversion therapy is built for families who want support rooted in scripture, without a program promising what research cannot back up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does conversion therapy work? No. The most thorough review, an American Psychological Association task force covering 83 studies from 1960 to 2007, found no methodologically sound study showing lasting change, and found evidence of harm instead.
Has any study ever proven that attraction or personal identity can be permanently changed? No. Every study claiming success has lacked a control group, a representative sample, or independently checked outcomes, often more than one.
What happened to the study people cite as proof it works? The 2003 study most often cited was retracted by its own author in 2012, who said the findings did not hold up once its lack of a control group and reliance on self-report were accounted for.
Why do so many medical organizations oppose conversion therapy? The AMA, AAP, AACAP, and SAMHSA each reviewed the research independently and reached the same conclusion: it does not work and can cause harm.
If conversion therapy doesn't work, what can Christian parents do instead? Faith-centered support that helps a young person and their family without a predetermined outcome. CT4F's guide to faith-based alternatives outlines free resources built for this.
Sources and Further Reading
Research Reviews
Retracted Evidence
CT4F Resources for Families
Recent posts
Does Conversion Therapy Work? Fifty Years of Research, No Reliable Evidence
Researchers have formally studied whether "conversion therapy" can change a young person's attractions or how they see themselves since the 1960s, and the answer has not moved.
Researchers have formally studied whether "conversion therapy" can change a young person's attractions or how they see themselves since the 1960s, and the answer has not moved.
In 2009, an American Psychological Association task force reviewed 83 peer-reviewed studies stretching back nearly five decades and found none built on sound methods that showed lasting change.
Every major U.S. medical group that has studied the question since, including the AMA, the AAP, and SAMHSA, reached the same conclusion. The single study defenders still cite as proof was retracted by its own author in 2012.
For a Christian parent deciding what will help their child, the honest answer is that evidence for change has never shown up, though real, faith-centered support still can.
Quick Takeaways
An American Psychological Association task force reviewed 83 peer-reviewed studies from 1960 to 2007 and found no methodologically sound study showing lasting change in attraction or personal identity.
The AMA, AAP, AACAP, and SAMHSA each separately concluded the practice does not work and can cause harm.
The most cited "success" study, published in 2003, was retracted by its own author in 2012.
Research consistently finds higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behavior in minors pushed through these practices, not the change that was promised.
None of this requires setting faith aside. Faith-focused medical and counseling bodies who reviewed the same evidence reached the same conclusion from within their own convictions.
What Fifty Years of Research Actually Found
In 2009, a task force convened by the American Psychological Association reviewed 83 peer-reviewed studies published between 1960 and 2007, the largest look at the evidence to date. It did not find a single study built with the safeguards good science requires: a comparison group, a representative sample, and outcomes checked by someone other than the participant. Studies that did report positive results shared the same weaknesses: no control group, participants who already wanted that outcome, and success measured only by self-report. The task force also found minors pushed through these efforts showed higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behavior. The full mental health research on these practices lays out the complete picture.
Every Major Medical Group Reviewed the Same Evidence and Landed in the Same Place
This is not one organization's opinion. The American Medical Association has stated the practice has no valid medical basis. The American Academy of Pediatrics concluded in 2018 that it is not effective and can be harmful. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reached parallel conclusions after reviewing the same research. A closer look at what the APA, AMA, and AAP actually say shows these groups started from the same data and found no evidence for the outcome the practice promises, alongside documented risks and a measurable increase in suicide risk among minors who went through it.
The Study Its Own Author Walked Back
For years, one 2003 study was treated as the exception, proof that change was possible for people who wanted it enough. Its author interviewed people who said they had changed and took their word for it. There was no comparison group and no outside way to check the claims. In 2012, the same psychiatrist retracted his own conclusions in public, saying they did not hold up. A study without a control group and without outside verification cannot prove a treatment worked, no matter how sincerely its participants believe it did.
What This Means for Your Family
None of this asks a Christian parent to stop trusting scripture or to stop loving their child exactly as they are. It asks for the same standard applied to any other treatment: does the evidence support it? Fifty years of looking has found no such evidence, and real harm instead. Where a state has passed a law limiting the practice for minors, it did so because of findings like these, not politics. CT4F's guide to faith-based alternatives to conversion therapy is built for families who want support rooted in scripture, without a program promising what research cannot back up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does conversion therapy work? No. The most thorough review, an American Psychological Association task force covering 83 studies from 1960 to 2007, found no methodologically sound study showing lasting change, and found evidence of harm instead.
Has any study ever proven that attraction or personal identity can be permanently changed? No. Every study claiming success has lacked a control group, a representative sample, or independently checked outcomes, often more than one.
What happened to the study people cite as proof it works? The 2003 study most often cited was retracted by its own author in 2012, who said the findings did not hold up once its lack of a control group and reliance on self-report were accounted for.
Why do so many medical organizations oppose conversion therapy? The AMA, AAP, AACAP, and SAMHSA each reviewed the research independently and reached the same conclusion: it does not work and can cause harm.
If conversion therapy doesn't work, what can Christian parents do instead? Faith-centered support that helps a young person and their family without a predetermined outcome. CT4F's guide to faith-based alternatives outlines free resources built for this.
Sources and Further Reading
Research Reviews
Retracted Evidence
CT4F Resources for Families
Recent posts
Does Conversion Therapy Work? Fifty Years of Research, No Reliable Evidence
Researchers have formally studied whether "conversion therapy" can change a young person's attractions or how they see themselves since the 1960s, and the answer has not moved.
Researchers have formally studied whether "conversion therapy" can change a young person's attractions or how they see themselves since the 1960s, and the answer has not moved.
In 2009, an American Psychological Association task force reviewed 83 peer-reviewed studies stretching back nearly five decades and found none built on sound methods that showed lasting change.
Every major U.S. medical group that has studied the question since, including the AMA, the AAP, and SAMHSA, reached the same conclusion. The single study defenders still cite as proof was retracted by its own author in 2012.
For a Christian parent deciding what will help their child, the honest answer is that evidence for change has never shown up, though real, faith-centered support still can.
Quick Takeaways
An American Psychological Association task force reviewed 83 peer-reviewed studies from 1960 to 2007 and found no methodologically sound study showing lasting change in attraction or personal identity.
The AMA, AAP, AACAP, and SAMHSA each separately concluded the practice does not work and can cause harm.
The most cited "success" study, published in 2003, was retracted by its own author in 2012.
Research consistently finds higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behavior in minors pushed through these practices, not the change that was promised.
None of this requires setting faith aside. Faith-focused medical and counseling bodies who reviewed the same evidence reached the same conclusion from within their own convictions.
What Fifty Years of Research Actually Found
In 2009, a task force convened by the American Psychological Association reviewed 83 peer-reviewed studies published between 1960 and 2007, the largest look at the evidence to date. It did not find a single study built with the safeguards good science requires: a comparison group, a representative sample, and outcomes checked by someone other than the participant. Studies that did report positive results shared the same weaknesses: no control group, participants who already wanted that outcome, and success measured only by self-report. The task force also found minors pushed through these efforts showed higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behavior. The full mental health research on these practices lays out the complete picture.
Every Major Medical Group Reviewed the Same Evidence and Landed in the Same Place
This is not one organization's opinion. The American Medical Association has stated the practice has no valid medical basis. The American Academy of Pediatrics concluded in 2018 that it is not effective and can be harmful. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reached parallel conclusions after reviewing the same research. A closer look at what the APA, AMA, and AAP actually say shows these groups started from the same data and found no evidence for the outcome the practice promises, alongside documented risks and a measurable increase in suicide risk among minors who went through it.
The Study Its Own Author Walked Back
For years, one 2003 study was treated as the exception, proof that change was possible for people who wanted it enough. Its author interviewed people who said they had changed and took their word for it. There was no comparison group and no outside way to check the claims. In 2012, the same psychiatrist retracted his own conclusions in public, saying they did not hold up. A study without a control group and without outside verification cannot prove a treatment worked, no matter how sincerely its participants believe it did.
What This Means for Your Family
None of this asks a Christian parent to stop trusting scripture or to stop loving their child exactly as they are. It asks for the same standard applied to any other treatment: does the evidence support it? Fifty years of looking has found no such evidence, and real harm instead. Where a state has passed a law limiting the practice for minors, it did so because of findings like these, not politics. CT4F's guide to faith-based alternatives to conversion therapy is built for families who want support rooted in scripture, without a program promising what research cannot back up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does conversion therapy work? No. The most thorough review, an American Psychological Association task force covering 83 studies from 1960 to 2007, found no methodologically sound study showing lasting change, and found evidence of harm instead.
Has any study ever proven that attraction or personal identity can be permanently changed? No. Every study claiming success has lacked a control group, a representative sample, or independently checked outcomes, often more than one.
What happened to the study people cite as proof it works? The 2003 study most often cited was retracted by its own author in 2012, who said the findings did not hold up once its lack of a control group and reliance on self-report were accounted for.
Why do so many medical organizations oppose conversion therapy? The AMA, AAP, AACAP, and SAMHSA each reviewed the research independently and reached the same conclusion: it does not work and can cause harm.
If conversion therapy doesn't work, what can Christian parents do instead? Faith-centered support that helps a young person and their family without a predetermined outcome. CT4F's guide to faith-based alternatives outlines free resources built for this.
Sources and Further Reading
Research Reviews
Retracted Evidence
CT4F Resources for Families