Controversia Conversion Therapy Research Paper

An individual’s sexuality should not define who they are as a person. What is Conversion Therapy? Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy has a range of treatments that are designed in hopes to turn a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual. Conversion therapy is also used in attempts to convert a transgender person’s gender expression to match with the gender given at birth. It is currently banned for minors in 5 states (California, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, and Illinois) and the other 45 states have no law against it. Many teens in this current time period are coming out as either lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer. Homosexuality is often seen as a negative effect towards society.

The mental health of individuals in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community is something that is a serious problem. For most of the history of the United States and many different parts of the world LGBT people faced much persecution and in some cases even death. This constant fear of discovery and the pressure that one feels on oneself when “in the closet” can lead to major mental distress. Research has shown that people who identify as LGBT are twice as likely to develop lifetime mood and anxiety disorders (Bostwick 468). This is extremely noticeable the past couple years in the suicides of bullied teens on the basis of sexual identity and expression. The stigma on simply being perceived as LGBT is strong enough to

Homosexuality is not a “disease” as Dr. Levin and his colleagues would call it. During the process of this experiment, Levin learned that forced gender reassignment paired with other harsh methods does not cure hmosexuality, instead it can make indivduals reluctant to reveal their self- accepted lifestyles, can cause ideations of self-harm due to the emotional distress and mental confusion, and are overall detrimental to the individual's’

Conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, or Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) has a troubled history within the United States and abroad. Conversion therapy is the use of a variety of means to attempt to change an individual’s sexual or gender orientation. Current practices include inducing vomiting or paralysis while showing a subject homoerotic images, having a subject snap a rubber band on their wrist whenever they have certain thoughts, or using tactics to create shame or aversion to same sex or transgender thoughts. Many established institutes claim that the therapy does or doesn't work and offer contradicting evidence for their position. The Movement Advancement Project, a group dedicated to providing research for the advancement of LGBT people, states in an infographic that nine states, plus the District of Columbia and a handful of municipalities have banned conversion therapy from being provided by licensed medical professionals to minors (“Kids” 1). Based on the established evidence and the overwhelming number of psychologists and sociologist that disavow conversion therapy, along with the multitude of horror stories from children who were persuaded, or forced, to participate by their parents, the federal government should ban conversion therapy for all minors.

Electroconvulsive shock therapy, copper heating wires and mind altering drugs seem like something straight out of a terrifying horror film, but these are all painful realities for some victims of conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is also known as reparative therapy, and is the widespread practice of trying to change the sexuality of gay men and women all over the world. It is an inhumane process that only hurts patients. Gay conversion therapy is a horrifying term used to rationalize physical torture, psychological damage and systematic oppression towards the LGBT community that needs to be banned.

The study that provides evidence that conversion therapy is both ineffective and harmful is provided by the American Psychological Association (APA) in a report entitled, Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation. The report concluded that, "efforts to change sexual

Thesis: Conversion therapy receives little support from the American psychiatric community due to a lack of evidence confirming its supposed effectivity and the measurable damage it causes to the individuals subjected to its outdated practices.

Reparative therapy, is a range of dangerous and discredited practices that falsely claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression (Human Rights Campaign). These practices have been banned by many mental health doctors and practitioners. This particular therapy is mainly used on the youth of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender

On December 8, 2016, Mark Squilla proposed a bill against a practice called “conversion therapy on LGBTQ” a practice to convert an individual’s gender identity in order to reduce romantic attraction toward same-sex individuals. According to the article, many health associations have proof that “the dangers of conversion therapy practices, which are known to lead to depression, decreased self-esteem, substance abuse, and suicide.”(PHL Council). Squilla does not want anyone to feel rejected and ashamed because of who they are. He plays a large role in this bill because he stood up to the LGBTQ commitee and protect who they are.

al., 2013, p. 253). With treatments such as “professional therapy and paraprofessional/religious ministry contexts”, Sanders and his colleagues report that thirty percent of those who participated in this form of therapy achieved “positive outcomes” (2013, p. 255). Although critics to changing one’s sexual orientation claim that there are many factors that limit the support of the research proving the success of this treatment option, Sanders states that there is data supporting successful conversions (2013, p. 255).

The goal of conversion therapy is to change a patient’s sexual orientation or the gender that they identify with using an array of techniques, extending as far as procedures like shock therapy.This pseudoscience is based on the belief that a person learns homosexual or transgender behavior. Conversion therapy holds no proof of efficacy, but what it does hold is evidence of psychological harm to patients. With no scientific support for the practice, it has been discredited by nearly all major psychological associations.

The definition of Conversion disorder is also called functional neurological symptom disorder it is a condition in which you show psychological stress in physical ways. The condition was so named to describe a health problem that starts as a mental or emotional crisis a scary or stressful incident of some kind and converts to a physical problem. That cannot explain by medical evaluation through a physical exanimation or recent medical history that you might have in the pass (Definition)

In 2005 a new trend was emerging. A man named Richard Cohen claimed he could use conversion therapy to convert gays into straight men. He claimed that he had once been gay and is now happily married with children (CNN Report..., 2006). His methods of conversion included trauma counseling as well as catharsis methods and group therapy, only to name a few. In his trauma counseling in men who had been sexually assaulted in their past, he would coddle them and give them a safe haven by holding them like children, he would also give them a tennis racket and tell them to hit a pillow and yell at whomever it was they were angry with (CNN Report..., 2006). His methods not only seem unorthodox but harming. After this report it was found that Cohen was

According to Dr. Robert L. Spitzer homosexuality is a mental illness and should be treated as such (Kinney, 2015).

Throughout history, homosexuality--a sexual attraction that exists between members of the same sex-- has been defined as a sin, a choice, an unwanted condition, a result of being frightened by women, and a type of mental illness (Murphy, 1992). The theories surrounding homosexuality can be classified into three broad categories: (1) pathology, indicating an illness or disease; (2) immaturity, signifying an irregular psychosexual development; and (3) natural variation, indicating homosexuality occurs naturally (Drescher, 2015). Because of the beliefs and controversy surrounding homosexuality throughout history, religious practitioners and psychologists developed treatment options to cure those who displayed homosexual tendencies. The most popular type of psychological treatment developed was conversion therapy. Conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, is used to change someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual (Haldeman, 2001). Different types of treatment options for conversion therapy include psychodynamic, behavioral, hormonal, surgical, and spiritual interventions (Murphy, 1992).