When I was in high school I had a movie class. In which we watched many different types of movies. From the truly beginnings of cinematography to the modern era - some of them were truly avant-garde and surrealistic. After watching them the whole class analyzed what we watched. Of course, some statements were hit or miss, sometimes we didn't know what the author wanted to say. That's my feeling when I read some comments under books about these topics. "Did they read the same book as me ?" If you go to Wikipedia and read about Richard Green you will find that he did conversion therapies on children to make them heterosexual...Really? This is an excerpt from the book, where a homosexual boy answers Green after admitting his homosexuality. The boy feels bad because of his religious upbringing:

R.G. What do you think now? Do you think I am disappointed?
Kyle: No.
R.G: No, I'm not disappointed. I'm not ecstatic: I'm not disappointed. It's not a question of my approving or not approving of who you are. It's finding out who you are, and if you are having conflict somewhere, to see if I can find a way to handle the conflict. (Shortened)

"The goal was to reduce the stress you were feeling back then."

As I read these comments I ask myself: Some people truly don't want to question, huh?
This wasn't a pleasant read, it was a long and tedious read. The author in some parts makes arguments against many theoretical approaches (cognitive, psychoanalytical even biological) in the field of psychology and psychiatry and leaves the ending open. After reading I'm not surprised, there was such diversity of outcomes and circumstances... I would add more excerpts from the book to hammer this point. But Goodreads only allows pictures on the web, so sadly I cannot. My feelings about the author and this work can be summarized by the last sentences in the book when asks participant how he feels about the study:

SON: I feel, "Good, he used something."
R.G.: He used something?
SON: Yes-all that, it was worth something.

For me, it was worth hearing stories of these boys and their thoughts (And occasional professional shutting down of theories as not complex enough to encompass all their experiences).