Homosexuality As A Psychological Disorder

Throughout history, there have been accounts of people being persecuted for many reasons; race, religion, political affiliations, and sexual orientation. In the United States, and many other nations across the globe, there have been hundreds of thousands of people victimized for being homosexual. Due to differing standpoints, homosexuality is seen as “immoral” or “sinful” or even “disgusting”. Up until 1973, homosexuality was also referred to as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. People could be openly criticized, mocked, and often killed for simply being gay. Because of these social and religious criticisms, many people have been forced to partake in “conversion” or “reparative” therapies in order to become

According to Frank Worthen, “Homosexuality is a learned behavior which is influenced by a number of factors like a disrupted family or maybe lack of unconditional love, a failure to identify with the same sex parent. Later these problems can result in a search for love and acceptance, envy of the same or the opposite sex, a life controlled by various fears and feelings of isolation. One thing that does seem clear, homosexuality is brought about by a multitude of root

Psychological disorder: According to the textbook, Psychology: Principles in Practices, they are behavioral patterns or mental processes that can cause personal suffering. With that being said, wouldn’t that mean that if a person had a psychological disorder, they would have a disturbance within them, or more importantly, their brain? A psychological disorder, by definition, are the behavior patterns or mental processes that cause serious personal suffering or interfere with a person’s day to day life or routine. In contrast, a personality disorder is characterized as patterns of inflexible traits that can cause a disturbance in the afflicted person’s personal life and may cause distress. To fully understand disorders, psychologists

Prior to the twenty-first century, homosexuality was viewed as a mental disorder that required treatment. Both counseling and aversion therapy were exercised in attempts to “cure” individuals of their sexuality. The brutal process consisted of shock therapies, lobotomies, castrations, and drugs (Scot, 2013). A device that was commonly used was the Farrall Instrument, which functioned by showing an individual of the same sex and delivering a shock until a button was pressed to deliver another slide. The slides of the opposite sex did not deliver a shock; therefore, an association with those of the same sex would become negative and the patient receiving the treatment would become heterosexual. These practices were enacted until 1973 when the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder (Scot, 2013). From that point on, homosexuality increasingly grew in acceptance and still continues to do so in modern society. A variety of places that celebrate members of the LGBT community have been established to help welcome them into society, along with an improvement of the attitudes of others and their treatments towards the communities’ members. However, homophobia and the segregation of LGBT individuals still persists in modern society to prevent their integration into civilization.

Not just a century ago, there was an act that was considered heresy; homosexuality, a different side of sexuality found in all recesses of history. Humans are not the only ones with evidence of homosexuality in their species, it has long been debated whether it was formed from being genetically born that way or nurtured. The long found history has been only puzzling as the two sides of the spectrum in views, and only being publicly accepted in the 1940s. In Natasha Tracy’s article “Why Are People Gay? Gay By Choice or Is Being Gay Genetic?” where she goes on to discuss the legitimacy of its authenticity in being a homosexual. From the views of being born or in fact the way humans are brought up determines their sexuality, criticizing in the end the matter of sexuality is a matter to the individual and should not be criticized in any way.

Psychological disorders are stated to be abnormalities of the mind, known as mental disorders (Klasco, 2011). Abnormalities of the mind cause persistent behaviors that affect an individual’s daily function and life (Klasco, 2011). The different types of psychological disorders include mood disorders, personality disorders, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders (Klasco, 2011). The causes of these disorders are unknown, but factors that contribute to these disorders include childhood experiences, chemical imbalances in the brain, illnesses, heredity, stress, and prenatal exposures (Klasco, 2011). Psychological disorders can be serious and can be life-threatening

According to the American Psychological Association (2013), science has shown that the causes of homosexuality are generally related to the biological and environmental factors. There are a wide range of environmental factors, such as sociological and psychological, and various genetic factors that contribute to homosexuality, and though researchers agree that it is caused between a relatively complex interchange between nature and nurture, they favor the biological models for its cause. Biological models, such as theories and studies that explains sex-linkages, chromosomal patterns and genetics clearly explain such phenomenon.

A psychological disorder, also known as a mental disorder, is a pattern of behavioral or psychological symptoms that impact multiple life areas and create distress for the person experiencing these symptoms. These symptoms are characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual 's cognitive, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental process underlying mental functioning. Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress in social, occupational, or other important activities. Approximately 26 percent of American adults over the age of 18 suffer from some diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. (Cherry)

Charles Darwin famously said, “We do not even in the least know the final cause of sexuality. The whole subject is hidden in darkness” (Ryu). Since the beginning of time, there have been questions revolving around the topic of sexual orientation. Within the past few decades, homosexuality is becoming more mainstream and socially acceptable as more people begin to examine their gender identity and sexual preferences. Scientists researched to determine the cause of sexual orientation; however, two opposing sides have formed around the issue: nature (inherited genes and biology) versus nurture (the environment). Proponents of nature argue sexual orientation is biological and genetic; whereas proponents of nurture argue sexual orientation is non-biological, environmental, and socially constructed.

Human Sexuality is an important facet of our idea of self and who we are in life. The act of human reproduction is undeniably necessary for the continuation of the human race. Whether we choose to practice reproduction as nature intended via coitus between a man and a woman or to parent children that were conceived under unorthodox methods such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization our humanity can only continue to exist if we create more of ourselves. The most socially accepted expression of sexual identity is heterosexuality which is defined as sexual attraction to the opposite sex where sex is defined biologically by the gonads, male genitalia and female genitalia. At the other end of the spectrum are those identified as homosexual defined by same sex attraction or attraction to those who are biologically similar to themselves at the gonadal level. Being human we are aware of the pleasure that can be derived through sexual acts and have evolved to explore this side of our selves at times independent of the desire to procreate. I would argue that this desire is nature’s way of rewarding us for forwarding our genetics to future generations and that it is indeed quite natural to explore our desire for pleasure via sexual conduct. However as humanity has developed social influences, such as religion and the idea of what is normal, have demonized those possessing

Would you consider homosexuality to be a mental disorder? In the past, and even in present day, people viewed homosexuality, or being gay or lesbian, to be a psychiatric problem. People would view homosexuality as a problem because of their religion, beliefs in societal normality, or maybe because they viewed it as a cause for criminal activity. In reality, none of these are true reasons as to why homosexuality would be a mental health disorder. In today’s world, people have realized that others can have different preferences than them and that it is not an abnormality. Homosexuality is just one of those differences, but it doesn’t relate to mental illnesses at all. Mental disorders are “health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning.” (Department Of Health And Human Services 5). Homosexuality does not derive from distress or impaired functioning, therefore, it should not be treated as a psychiatric problem.

There are times when people are plagued with thoughts, behaviors or emotions that will inhibit them from normal behavior. These are known as psychological disorders. These disorders come in many forms but all will have large effects on a person’s life.

In today’s entertainment market, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony dominate the interactive entertainment medium, with Macintosh’s i-devices rapidly cornering the handheld market. Now, if one was interested in owning a home video game console, they need to weigh the positives and negatives of their options heavily because the current generation of home consoles is frightfully expensive and once you make your choice, you’re virtually stuck with it. The current popular choice is the Nintendo Wii due to its appeal to people who only play games casually on a basis similar to say, reading for fun or movie watching.

Thesis Statement: People should know that, homosexuality is a normal aspect of human sexuality and should not be considered a mental disorder.

Researchers conducted a randomized study to for two purposes. The first was to find out if beliefs about the genetic or environmental etiology of homosexuality can be modified by reading a text. The second was the causal effect of attributions on the controllability or non-controllability of homosexuality on the rejection of same-sex parenting. The sample consisted of 190 Spanish university students, 39 men and 150 women, around the age of 22 years. The data collection took place in March 2012. Researchers hypothesized that a heterosexual’s attitude toward homosexuality will be more negative if it is attributed to controllable causes. It was found that the beliefs about the etiology could be altered by a written text. Additionally,