Joseph Nicolosi

Joseph Nicolosi
Born	(1947-01-21) January 21, 1947 New York, United States
Died	California, United States
Occupation	Psychologist

Joseph Nicolosi (January 21, 1947 – March 8, 2017) was an American clinical psychologist, founder and director of the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic in Encino, California, and a founder and president of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). Nicolosi advocated and practiced reparative therapy, a practice that he claimed can help people overcome or mitigate their homosexual desires and replace them with heterosexual ones.

Biography

Nicolosi described his theories in Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality: A New Clinical Approach and three other books. Nicolosi proposed that homosexuality is often the product of a condition he described as gender-identity deficit caused by an alienation from, and perceived rejection by, individuals of the subject's gender, which interrupts normal masculine or feminine identification process. He held a Ph.D. from the California School of Professional Psychology. Nicolosi was a founding member of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) and was its president for some time. NARTH is a professional association that promotes the acceptance of conversion therapy, whose adherents purport successfully changing homosexuals into heterosexuals. He was an advisor to, and officer of, NARTH.

In 2012, California passed a law that banned the provision of conversion therapy to minors, including some of Nicolosi's existing patients. Nicolosi was named as a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the law on constitutional groups but the law, effectively barring Nicolosi's clinic from taking on patients under the age of 18, was subsequently upheld.

In 2015, a New Jersey judge barred Nicolosi from appearing as an expert witness in a lawsuit filed against another provider of conversion therapy, Jews Offering New Alternative for Healing (JONAH). The court excluded all of JONAH's experts, including Nicolosi, because each expert "proffer[ed] the opinion that homosexuality either is a disorder or is not a normal variation of human sexuality," which contradicted "generally accepted scientific theory."

He died on March 8, 2017.

See also

• Sexual orientation
• Sexual orientation change efforts
• Homosexuality and Christianity

Publications

• Nicolosi, Joseph (1991). Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality: A New Clinical Approach. Jason Aronson, Inc. ISBN 0-87668-545-9.
• Nicolosi, Joseph (1993). Healing Homosexuality: Case Stories of Reparative Therapy. Jason Aronson, Inc. ISBN 0-7657-0144-8.
• Nicolosi, Joseph & Nicolosi, Linda Ames (2002). A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 0-8308-2379-4.
• Nicolosi, Joseph (2009). Shame and Attachment Loss: The Practical Work of Reparative Therapy. InterVarsity Press

External links

• official website
• Catholic Answers: Dr. Joseph Nicolosi
• Catholic Therapists: Dr. Joseph Nicolosi
• MSNBC: image of Dr. Joseph Nicolosi
• Author Interview: A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi and Linda Nicolosi.
• Book Excerpt: Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi.
• Book Excerpt: Healing Homosexuality: Case Stories of Reparative Therapy by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi.
• Book Excerpt: A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi and Linda Nicolosi.
• Review: Therapy Terminable and Interminable: 'Non-gay Homosexuals' Come Out of the Closet by professor James Weinrich. A scholarly review of one of Nicolosi's scholarly books about conversion therapy.