Table of contents:
- What is the reverse therapy procedure like to cure gays and lesbians?
- Reversal therapy so that gay people can be cured includes attempts at torture
A small group of psychotherapists think that yes, homosexuality is a mental illness that makes people like the same sex. And they are currently on a special mission to "heal" those who are suffering - with a reversal therapy. But is it true that gay people can be cured?
As the name implies, reverse therapy aims to help gay and lesbian people change their sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. But is it true that gay people can be cured? And if so, is this therapy really effective in getting those who are "lost" back on the right path?
What is the reverse therapy procedure like to cure gays and lesbians?
The desire to change homosexuality has its roots in the decades ago. Often, homosexuality is linked to symptoms of depression and childhood trauma. In 1920, Sigmund Freud wrote about a father wanting his lesbian daughter to be transformed into a normal and liking man. Freud then canceled the therapy because he thought this therapy was unlikely to work.
Several years later, Freud refused to treat a homosexual child on the grounds that homosexuality “is not a shame, is not a handicap, or a bad thing; homosexuality cannot be classified as a disease. "
Psychologists in the early mid 1900s believed gay could be cured and recommended a variety of treatments. One ancient reversal therapy attempt was undertaken by the Viennese endocrinologist Eugen Steinach who transplanted testes from "normal" men to the testicles of gay men in an attempt to free them from same-sex sexual attraction. This attempt failed miserably.
Throughout the 1960s and 70s, reverse therapy used torture methods such as electric shocks to create seizures with the side effect of memory loss, or giving them nausea-stimulating drugs while showing them same-sex pornographic images so they could associate homosexuality with the trauma of an unpleasant experience. Other methods include psychoanalysis or talk therapy, estrogen treatment to reduce libido in men. In some countries this technique is still being implemented.
In England, for example. At just 12 years old, Samuel Brinton was forced to undergo reversal therapy for years. During therapy, she was subject to a program design that required her to hold an ice cube for hours and in another session, the therapist in Brinton's case electrocuted her body, Brinton's hand was burned and stabbed repeatedly, while being shown pictures of two men making love - so he could associate homosexuality with pain. At other times, he was forced to smell his own feces for hours staring at pictures of gay men.
Reversal therapy so that gay people can be cured includes attempts at torture
There are two main concerns about homosexual reversal therapy. First, conversion therapy has long called into question the legality of its professional standards and ethics, as well as the larger issues of therapist responsibility and patient well-being, which apply to all areas of mental health practice. Conversion therapy is not considered a primary psychological treatment, so there are never any professional standards or concrete guidelines for how it is done.
What's more, homosexuality is not considered a mental disorder, so the American Psychological Association (APA) does not recommend "curing" same-sex attraction in any way. Homosexuality has long been removed from the category of mental illness in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) since 1973. The ethics of modern psychology and medicine instruct every health professional to submit to treatment methods that promote human dignity. Gay conversion therapy does not meet all of these conditions.
Second, not only has the evidence so far shown that conversion therapy is unethical and irresponsible, it is also supported by insufficient and highly questionable “scientific evidence”. There has never been a strong scientific evidence to show that human sexual orientation can be changed. Nor is there any empirical support to support this idea of change. In addition, these studies have found that conversion therapy is effective in making gay people curable and in fact dangerous for the "patient". Negative effects include “loss of sexual desire and tendency, depression, anxiety disorders, and suicide.
To date, the UN Committee Against Torture has not categorized conversion therapy as a cruel and inhuman form of torture; However, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) has submitted a proposal for the UN to hasten their decision.
