Homosexuality As A Mental Disorder Essay

In the past decades, the struggle for gay rights in the Unites States has taken many forms. Previously, homosexuality was viewed as immoral. Many people also viewed it as pathologic because the American Psychiatric Association classified it as a psychiatric disorder. As a result, many people remained in ‘the closet’ because they were afraid of losing their jobs or being discriminated against in the society. According to David Allyn, though most gays could pass in the heterosexual world, they tended to live in fear and lies because they could not look towards their families for support. At the same time, openly gay establishments were often shut down to keep openly gay people under close scrutiny (Allyn 146). But since the 1960s, people

Nature; all things belong to Mother Nature; the trees, the flowers, insects, the great waters, animals, and even the human race; all following the laws of nature that we are instinctively born with. However somewhere along the line something or someone defies those laws and go against what nature intended. Whether or not this rebellion is fostered by nurture, or if there is an exception to the laws that Mother Nature has set forth is a question that psychologist and many people have encountered and most have yet to find the answer. Homosexuality has been thought of as being something that some are born with and others believe it is a learned behavior. Whether or not nature or nurture is the cause

Despite the fact that the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder on December 15, 1973, many therapists continue to practice conversion therapy with the aim of “curing” those in the LGBT community (Burroway). Their efforts to cure something that is not a disorder has lead to the development of actual mental disorders – depression, anxiety, and even PTSD – in patients (Glassgold et al.). In 1969, John Bancroft, M.D., conducted a study on conversion therapy using sixteen gay men, which led to mainly negative outcomes. Of the sixteen men, 10% developed suicidal ideation, 20% developed anxiety, and 40% developed depression (Bancroft). Bancroft also reported that conversion therapy had harmful effects on 50% of the participants involved in the study. While that study may be over forty years old, the data collected remains relevant. A 2013 survey given to those who have undergone conversion therapy revealed that more than 90% of the surveyees felt emotional harm during therapy, and more than 80% continue to endure that emotional harm (Shapiro). Gay author Jallen Rix conducted the survey and had this to say about its results, “If anything, the research shows that no one changed.” In a way, Rix is

There is an arising topic in today’s generation and many teens and adults are facing challenges that are unthinkable to anyone else. These individuals are going through the challenge of determining their gender identity. Matters similar to this is the debate surrounding conversion therapy and how this LGBT communities are treated. Conversion therapy or reparative therapy is defined as by Oxford dictionaries as “psychotherapy aimed at changing a person’s homosexuality and based on the view that homosexuality is a mental disorder” (Oxford University Press, 2016). There has been much attention revolving around conversion therapy due to its safety and ethically questionable methods such as electroshock therapy and ice pick

For a long time, the minority of silent and ignored homosexuals has had to face and cross over not only internal fears, doubts and shame, but also the external fears of the risk of disapproval, rejection and maybe even death. Such fears stem from the widely-held belief that homosexual acts are abnormal behaviors as a symptom of a mental disease. As a consequence, this preconception, along with the displeasure with the idea of homosexuality, leads many families who have gay or lesbian children to seek a “cure” for what are called “unnatural” impulses. The afflicted individuals might suffer numerous methods of sexual reorientation therapy. However, considering the characteristics of a disease, homosexuality should not be considered as such if

Less than a century ago, homosexuality was thought to be a curable mental illness and was not spoken of. Many consider it to be “unnatural” or a “lifestyle choice” while others believe sexuality is a part of each individuals nature. Homosexual individuals have been around since at least the beginning of recorded history and have been found to exist in essentially every culture throughout time. Treatment of these individuals varied in each culture. Some viewed sexual orientation as another aspect human sexuality. Some cultures treated it as a right of passage, others saw it as a direct act against God and punished it severely. Whether by nature or by choice, homosexuals are still humans and should be treated as such. Although protections and

Although various methods of Conversion Therapy have been around since sense the dawn of religion itself, the early 1900’s peaked interest in the so-called “psychiatric problem” that is homosexuality; indeed, oftentimes considered The Father of Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud claimed that homosexuality may be removed from the brain through hypnotism or therapeutic torture. Through his widely respected claims, Freud, for a short era, influenced the decisions of many Evangelical Christians with homosexual relatives. From the establishment of small psychology centers focused on gay conversion to the opening of numerous “straight camps” for gay men and lesbians, the Freudian Era of Gay Conversion and Gender Identity Therapies led to a breakthrough in medical research regarding these ineffective treatments. All of this being true, and even with modern medicine being of abundance in our society, certain Evangelical Christian groups still intend on practicing this form of rehabilitation, but with our progressive American mindsets, these should not be bearing the heavy burden of anti-societal measures for much longer.

In 1975 the DSM III-R (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 7th edition) dropped all mentions of homosexuality from its pages, a hard-won victory at the hands of gay rights activists. Several decades later, the 2013 edition of DSM V omitted gender identity disorder, discontinuing the validity of the diagnosis. Framing queer sexuality and being trans/non-binary as a mental illness in need of treatment was one of the first ways in which LGBT+ identities were stigmatized in the health

Before 1973, homosexuality with-in our culture, was considered taboo, but things changed when they adopted the civil rights method of protest, “of the 1950s to the 1970s, bringing about change by influencing large amounts of minorities (LGBT Mental Health Syllabus). To be sure, 1973 became an important year for America’s acceptance of homosexuality, as a choice from a previous physiological diagnosis, and the legalization of abortion on the national level. Basically, they revised their medical research over night, with no new research verifying that homosexuality is a trait we are born with. In 1988, Michael Swift wrote and submitted the "Gay Revolutionary", stating a very aggressive take over of our heterosexual community, and was submitted

Homosexuality has been one of the most controversial subjects around the world for thousands of years. Being a homosexual has been seen as taboo, morally wrong, and just abnormal. Scientists have questioned the mental health status of those who proclaim themselves as being homosexual, and have even gone as far to say that homosexuality is a mental disorder. Until 1974, being homosexual was deemed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as a mental illness, and classified as a “sexual deviation.” It wasn’t until a certain doctor named Evelyn Hooker came along and challenged these notions with revolutionary experimentation and research that homosexuality began to be seen as a normal way of life instead of a disorder.

In 1950’s psychologist in United States recorded homosexuality as a mental disorder which was known DMS (Diagnostic Statistical Manual). In 1972, psychologists removed homosexuality from the list of mental disorders. Homosexuality indicates the sexual orientation in which individuals of the same gender engages romantically and sexually (Knox 134). According to Appiah (2), there lacks explicit explanation for the basis of orientation, but existing information suggests environment contributes its developments. As a practice, orientation has ingratiated itself amongst many cultures and people of different calibers. For females, the term lesbian denotes the type of sexual orientation, whereas for male, people prevalently use the word gay. However,

According to Rathus, Nevid, and Fichner-Rathus, (2005) the term homosexuality denotes sexual interest in members of one’s own anatomic sex and applies to both_ _men and women. Homosexual males are often referred to as gay males and homosexual females or referred to as lesbians. Gay males and lesbians have existed throughout history. The historical and scientific perspectives on homosexuality have shaped the way gay individuals perceive themselves in various ways. These perspectives may also be beneficial to heterosexuals' understanding of others in our world of sexual diversity.

Members of the LGBT community write “In arguing that sexual orientation and gender identity are innate and cannot be consciously changed, attempts to change gay, lesbian, and bisexual people into heterosexuals, called "reparative therapy" are generally opposed (Sullivan 1997).”

Conversely, phycologists Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Sigmund Freud viewed sexuality as “inherently dangerous and needing repression” (Yarber 2016). In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of recognized mental disorders (Savage, 2004). Changing the way homosexuality was viewed from an illness, to a legitimate sexual identity was a huge step in normalizing sexual variances. Previously, individuals who experienced non-heterosexual attractions were deemed sick and underwent interventions to find a cure. A paper written by psychologist Lee Beckstead shared how individuals tried various methods to change their sexual orientation including surgery, hormonal treatments, and even shock therapy (Beckstead 2012). A research article written by Christian Cyphers shared that conversion therapy was just recently banned in 2013.

Recently, in Brazil, the country where I came from, a judge approved a provisory law that suspends a 1999 Resolution from the Federal Council of Psychology (FCP). It has been discussed intensely in Brazil since it happened. The reason for so much repercussion is that the provisory law allows psychologists to treat homosexual patients as if they have a disease, an illness or disability. So, for the past weeks, people with diverging opinions have debated the subject non-stop.