Does Evergreen Practice Unethical Therapeutic Techniques?

A few Web sites report versions of a story of a young man who received expensive and damaging therapy as a result of a referral from Evergreen.

A Web site carries a story about Jayce Cox who, while attending “Weaver” State University during “the last five, six months of 1994,” was referred to Evergreen, who referred him to a secret therapy at BYU that cost him “about five, six thousand dollars.” Another Web site reports an interview with Jayce Cox who claims that in 1995, he was administered shock aversion therapy at BYU, at a cost of $9,000.

Another Web site reports that Mike Summers was referred to Evergreen, who charged him $200 for an experimental aversion therapy treatment at a clinic in Ogden that had “Evergreen” on the door. He was given papers to sign stating that this experimental program was not connected with the church and if he did not keep it confidential, he would be excommunicated. The story says he was shown pornography while ammonia was sprayed into his nose.

Another story states that someone was picked up in a van that had an Evergreen logo on it and delivered to a therapy clinic in Ogden.

Facts: Evergreen has never advocated aversion shock therapy and has never had an office in Ogden nor a van with an Evergreen logo. The only office we’ve ever had is in Salt Lake City, which we opened in February 1999 (and later moved to a second office in 2005). Because these stories were so widely circulated, in the summer of 2000, the Provo City Police and the Chief Investigator for the Utah Department of Commerce (who handles state licensing) investigated the claims of these stories. The police spoke with those who provide the stories on their Web sites and performed an investigation at BYU and at the Evergreen office in Salt Lake City. After a thorough investigation, they could not corroborate any of the facts of the story and closed the investigation.

Background: "Aversive conditioning" is a form of behavior therapy with the goal of changing an automatic behavior or desire. It may be administered through a small shock given through the finger that is painful but not harmful. It may also be administered by snapping oneself with a rubber band or by calling up an unpleasant image. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, aversive conditioning was studied with a variety of behaviors (such as homosexuality, paraphilia, and alcoholism) which clients were seeking to diminish. It was studied at some of the most prominent research facilities in the nation, especially those emphasizing behavior modification and behavior therapy.