Robert L. Spitzer reported in 2003 that individuals who reported experiencing a change in sexual orientation had felt depressed or even suicidal prior to treatment "precisely because they had previously thought there was no hope for them, and they had been told by many mental health professionals that there was no hope for them, they had to just learn to live with their homosexual feelings." Spitzer's study, however, is widely considered disreputable in the therapeutic and mental-health community. The American Psychiatric Association enumerated many flaws in Spitzer's methods and analysis, and an American Psychological Association task force likewise scrutinized Spitzer's work and found it seriously flawed. The degree to which Spitzer's claims were treated as authoritative by news media has been examined and found problematic. Ultimately, Spitzer himself came to realize that his study had serious flaws, and rescinded the claims that he had made.