While LGBTQ activists and progressive lawmakers claim that counseling to reduce unwanted same-sex attraction increases the risk of suicide, one researcher has published research showing that such counseling actually reduces that risk.

In a study published in September 2022, sociologist D. Paul Sullins analyzed previous research by John R. Blosnich and others. Blosnich had claimed in 2020 that Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) were “associated with twice the odds of lifetime suicidal ideation, 75% increased odds of planning to commit suicide, 88% percent increased odds of attempting suicide resulting in no or minor injury, and 67% increased odds of suicide attempt resulting in moderate or severe injury.”

Sullins exposed a glaring flaw in Blosnich’s study: It did not take into account whether or not the suicidal thoughts, plans or attempts took place before or after the people experienced SOCE. When Sullins examined the data with that in mind, he found that many of the suicidal exposures had actually occurred before the people ever received SOCE, meaning that SOCE could not have caused them.

In fact, Sullins found that following SOCE, suicidal thoughts, planning, intentions and attempts were all reduced dramatically. “Most of the suicidality did not follow SOCE in time but preceded it,” he wrote.

Since Sullins’ study appeared, Blosnich and several other researchers have called Sullins’ findings into question, resulting in a number of exchanges in the American Journal of Public Health and the Archives of Sexual Behavior. Each time, Sullins has responded in detail and concluded that his study’s findings still hold: SOCE does not increase but rather reduces the risk of suicide. Sullins wrote in one response that Blosnich and his co-authors do not seem to comprehend that a suicide attempt that happened before SOCE could not possibly have resulted from SOCE.

According to Ben Johnson at The Washington Stand, 27 states have banned conversion therapy/SOCE efforts.

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