
The Boiled Frog Blog
Boil a frog slowly and it fails to appreciate its own peril.
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Does Your Therapist Have a PhD from Inst for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality?
If so, don't walk — RUN to the exit and never return again. It is nothing but credential fraud. I cannot say, for certain, that the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality is a diploma mill. However, I can say that "The Institute," at best, is nothing but an unaccredited vocational school. The diplomas that they offer are worthless. In fact, much of the faculty is self-credentialed. In other words, they have a bogus diploma from the same school. Some of these do not appear to have undergraduate degrees which means that high school graduates are teaching people who will be awarded "doctorates." Presumably then, some people receive PhD's without an undergraduate degree. But, as I said, the diploma is worthless.
Accreditation is a very lengthy process that starts with a self-study by an academic steering committee. One absolute requirement is a faculty and academic management with credentials from accredited educational institutions.
I came across this issue when I was investigating NARTH's claim that they published a study in a peer reviewed scientific journal. That "prestigious" journal turns out to be published by the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. But it gets worse.
A web search reveals that there is a huge number of people who list these bogus credentials on their curricula vitae. These include practicing therapists. It would not surprise me if some employers and even some licensing agencies were duped into accepting these diplomas as legitimate credentials. Now you might wonder about the value of a therapist who has a legitimate masters degree in, say, counseling plus the phony PhD from IASHS. If your therapist was intent on embellishing their resume with unearned credentials, that is very telling. If they were too stupid to know that they were spending tens of thousands of dollars on a piece of flushable paper, would you really want their help in sorting out your dilemmas?
Oh, by the way, "The Institute" is in the business of endorsing herbal sexual enhancement products. It only further proves that, if you have a medical problem, see a real doctor.

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I found this posting looking up Independent opinions on ISAHS on Google. I was seriously considering doing graduate work through their institution, and had several exchanges with the Dean over this past summer.
They do not accept financial aid. Part of the reason for this is that they do not want their studies and practices to be intervened with by the Religious Right. If they don't want their ideas messed with by that community, I highly doubt they support reparative therapy.
IASHS is not accredited, but they do require a dissertation and credits earned on campus as well, so they are not a true “diploma mill” by the Wikipedia definition. It also has plenty of progressive minded alumni, including Betty Dobson and Annie Sprinkle.
You have a few things mixed up here. The Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality does NOT sponsor the "Jounal of Human Sexuality" which published the paper in question about "reparative therapy." The IASHS does sponsor the Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality which is a completely different peer-reviewed publication. I don't represent the IASHS, but I did get a graduate degree there. I'm quite certain they don't support reparative therapy in any way!
I just did a Google search on Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. There really are tons of on line resumes that have it listed for an advanced degree. Based on the above commenter this is just a degree mill. By the way, the other thing that turned up is that the owner was the consultant for a movie about porn star John Holmes aka Johnny Wadd.
I once visted this place for an event they hosted. It is in a run down building in a relatively seedy part of town. It consists of a few shabby offices surrounding an even shabbier open area with some old couches around. It looks more like a drop in counseling center from the Sixties than any sort of academic institution. Simply put, it really is a bad joke.
Flat out lie. Nice building in the heart of SF, not far from the Civic Center.
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