Nebraska Catholics Want Right to Deny Psychotherapy to Gays

The Nebraska Roman Catholic Conference is pushing a proposal that would let psychologists refuse to treat gay patients on religious grounds. The website 365Gay has the story:

Nebraska’s rules for licensed psychologists could change because of concerns about potential conflicts between religious convictions and sexual orientation.

Jim Cunningham of the Nebraska Roman Catholic Conference says psychologists and other licensed therapists should be able to refuse to treat or refer clients because of the counselors’ religious or moral convictions.

But psychologist James Cole told regulators that such a rule could open the door for discrimination as long as a therapist claimed a religious conflict. Cole represented the Nebraska Psychology Association at a recent hearing on the proposal. Neb. Catholics ask for OK for psychologists to not treat gays

First of all, this is just plain not nice. Gay people have problems too, they need somebody to talk to sometimes, to try to deny them that is low. There is no lofty motive here, the Catholic group simply wants to hurt gay people.

The Lincoln Journal Star has more details -- I'll skip through their story:

Psychologists should be able to refuse to treat -- and refuse to refer clients -- because of religious or moral convictions, Jim Cunningham, executive director of the Nebraska Catholic Conference, said during a licensing rules hearing Thursday.

The conference also supports a similar “convictions of conscience” rule for licensed counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists.

Without any conscience clause, Catholic Charities in Omaha and Catholic Social Services in Lincoln might have to stop hiring licensed counselors and psychologists, Cunningham said.

The Lincoln agency provides about $100,000 in free mental health services, he said Thursday.

While most ethics codes for professional counselors and psychologists allow professionals to refuse to offer services based on ethical or moral convictions, the codes generally require the professional to refer the client.

But even referring clients could be a violation of conscience when the service violates moral or religious convictions, Cunningham said.
...

Without a moral exemption, a psychologist who believes homosexual relationships are immoral might be required to counsel homosexual couples on building a better relationship, said Edward Stringham, a Lincoln psychologist. Groups push for 'conscience clause' for psychologists

Now here's the thing. You go to a psychologist and talk about things you think and feel, and a lot of them are not pretty things. You talk about conflicts, guilt, you confess your secrets -- and the reason they're secrets is because your conscience can't handle them. That's just why you go to a psychologist, so you can say those things you can't tell your mother.

Can you imagine if a psychologist all of a sudden jumped up in the middle of a session and said, "You what? You fantasized about doing what? With who? Get out of my office right this instant, you offensive perverted monster, you!"

Besides the pill-pushers, there are two main approaches to psychotherapy these days. The cognitive approach helps a client reason about his or her problems, you bring out details including their feelings, work out a logical solution, and figure out how to implement the solution. The other approach is the "client-centered" approach, where the therapist provides empathic acceptance for anything the client says, encouraging them to express themselves in an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard. Both of these approaches can help people get over their anxieties and confusion.

There is no approach in psychotherapy where the therapist judges the morality of the client's thoughts and feelings and treats them on the basis of their ethical worthiness. You know the person has dark secrets the minute they walk in the door, you try to get those out in the open and figure out how to deal with them. Some of those dark secrets might even -- gasp! -- involve sexual feelings, and some of those feelings may not fit into the individual's view of themselves and their place in the world. I'm not telling you something you didn't know already, it's a cliche, Woody Allen made a career out of this fact.

The Star Journal interviews a shrink.

“I have provided psychological services to individuals convicted of murder, and I have never had to compromise my moral belief that killing is wrong,” said Cole, a forensic psychologist.

“I have seen sexual offenders including individuals who are sexually attracted to children and who have abused children without ever having to compromise my moral belief that this behavior is wrong,” he said.

The convictions of conscience clause is already a part of proposed rule changes for counselors.

It is compromise language worked out between the Board of Mental Health Practice and the Nebraska Catholic Conference this winter.

The proposed rule changes for psychologists does not include the convictions of conscience clause. There likely would be a second hearing if the licensing board decided to add it, according to the hearing officer.

Note that the Catholic guys think that not only should psychologists not treat gay people, they shouldn't refer them. Can you imagine? All the horrible things in the world -- this guy mentioned treating killers, for crying out loud, child molesters, psychologists deal with mother rapers, father stabbers, and all kinds of mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys, and the Nebraska Catholic Conference wants them to freeze out gay people. Their sense of proportion is despicable.