It noted that many transgender women and gay men reported their "cross-gender behaviors began in early childhood" and the research showed it was difficult or impossible to shift in adults; the authors felt the best way to prevent "future sexual deviance", or at least make it unlikely as possible, was to correct gender noncomforming behavior at a young age. The method the paper detailed was a token based reinforcement system administered by the parents which rewarded gender conformity and punished deviancy. Blue chips were a sign of good behavior and could be swapped for chocolate bars, red chips were a sign of bad behavior and resulted in isolation and beatings.In contrast to this, a number of facts about Kraig have become public information, including: that he was a gay man; that according to his family, he never recovered from these treatments; and that in 2003, at the age of 38, he committed suicide. Even without confirmed knowledge of such outcomes, by the mid-1970s Rekerss publications on his treatment modality were already attracting harsh criticism from scholarly and popular media sources, and Bryant speculates that this is one possible explanation for why many clinicians do not publish on their treatment techniques, focusing instead on less controversial aspects of GD, such as diagnostic criteria.Therapeutic approaches for GD differ from those used on adults and have included behavior therapy, psychodynamic therapy, group therapy, and parent counseling.
In 2018, in a narrative systemic review titled "Conversion therapies and access to transition-related healthcare in transgender people", Zuckers work was provided as a case study in conversion therapy including open-ended play psychotherapy, parent counselling, and parent-guided interventions to prevent "transsexualism". The study was criticized by the reviewers for relying on flawed estimates of desistance as well as actively trying to reduce cross-gender identification.In 2015, the American Psychological Association and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration collaborated on a report stating "conversion therapy—efforts to change an individuals sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression—is a practice that is not supported by credible evidence and has been disavowed by behavioral health experts and associations. Conversion therapy perpetuates outdated views of gender roles and identities as well as the negative stereotype that being a sexual or gender minority or identifying as LGBTQ is an abnormal aspect of human development. Most importantly, it may put young people at risk of serious harm." Already by 2017, the majority of major medical associations had defined attempts to change an individuals gender identity or gender expression as conversion therapy.In 2021, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health concluded that treatment aimed at trying to change a persons gender identity and expression to become more congruent with sex assigned at birth "is no longer considered ethical." Edgardo Menvielle, a child-adolescent psychiatrist at the Childrens National Medical Center in Washington advised that "Therapists who advocate changing gender variant behaviours should be avoided."