What It’s Like To Experience Gay Conversn Therapy

Contents:

• 5 SURPRISG FACTS ABOUT GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• WHAT IT’S LIKE TO EXPERIENCE GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• THE CEL, DANGERO REALY OF GAY NVERSN THERAPY
• HOW CHRISTIANS TURNED AGAST GAY CONVERSN THERAPY
• GAY CONVERSN THERAPY: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

5 SURPRISG FACTS ABOUT GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

But provirs, ually unlicensed, n often disguise the terms they e to avoid beg terms clu:Sexual attractn fluidy exploratn therapy (SAFE-T)Elimatg, rcg, or creasg equency or tensy of unwanted same-sex attractn (SSA)Reparative therapySexual reorientatn effortsEx-gay mistryPromotg healthy sexualyAddrsg sexual addictns and disorrsSexualy unselgEnuragg relatnal and sexual wholensHealg sexual brokennsConversn therapy techniqu n lead to feelg “ls than” or “damaged, ” impactg self-teem.

A number of medil and mental health anizatns have issued public statements rejectg the e of nversn therapy bee of many provirs who claim to be qualified to provi nversn therapy are often not licensed mental health practners or medil study found that LGBTQ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or qutng) people who are rejected or discrimated agast are:8 tim more likely to report havg attempted suiciAlmost 6 tim more likely to report high levels of prsnMore than 3 tim as likely to e illegal dgs3 tim more likely to be at high risk of HIV and other STDsAcrdg to rearch, nearly 700, 000 LGBTQ adults the U. Acrdg to the Brish Psychologil Society (BPS), nversn therapy - sometim lled "reparative therapy" or "gay cure therapy" - tri to change someone's sexual orientatn or genr inty. ”“I have tried to move on, but the relig unselg really affected me, and up to now, I have a hard time believg if there is even a God the first place, ” said Jay Angwenyi, a gay man livg  Kenya.

But mastream psychologists say the therapy is effective, uhil and often harmful, exacerbatg anxiety and self-hatred among those treated for what is not a mental 2013, two s volvg the therapy to nvert gay people to heterosexuals h the urts, wh one seekg to sue unselors who offer the therapy and the other seekg to fend are five thgs you need to know about the therapy and the current psychologists say nversn therapy don't workA diagnosis of major prsn do not evoke much rponse, eher a stigmatizg or supportive, om a person's social work, a study dited. (Image cred: Oleg Golovnev | shutterstock)Homosexualy is not nsired a mental disorr, so the Amerin Psychologil Associatn (APA) do not remend "curg" same-sex attractn any se.

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO EXPERIENCE GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

Instead, societal ignorance, prejudice and prsure to nform to heterosexual sir are the real dangers to gay people's mental health, acrdg to a 1997 statement on "nversn" or "reparative" therapy by the APA.

[7 Absolutely Evil Medil Experiments]More recently, people who have been through nversn therapy report talk therapy that emphasiz psdoscientific theori, such as the ia that an overbearg mother and a distant father make a child gay. His therapist blamed his parents for Arana's homosexualy, and urged him to distance himself om his female bt Lev, one of the men sug Jonah for ceptive practic, says that he qu nversn therapy after his therapist had him strip down and touch himself to "rennect wh his masculy, " acrdg to the New York 's happeng the urts? In 1935, Frd went even further, wrg to a woman who wanted her homosexual son nverted that homosexualy "is nothg to be ashamed of, no vice, no gradatn; nnot be classified as an illns.

One of the stranger attempts was an effort by Vienne endocrologist Eugen Steach to transplant tticl om straight men to the scrotums of gay men an attempt to rid them of same-sex sir. It didn’t of the most proment advot of nversn therapy the 1940s and 50s was Edmund Bergler, who saw homosexualy as a perversn and believed he uld "cure" gay people wh a punishment-based, nontatnal therapy the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn stopped classifyg homosexualy as a mental disorr 1973, nversn therapi lost support. A small group of psychologists, spltg wh their peers, ntue to promote the therapi, foundg the nversn therapy anizatn NARTH, or the Natnal Associatn for Rearch & Therapy of Homosexualy.

THE CEL, DANGERO REALY OF GAY NVERSN THERAPY

In 2003, famed psychiatrist Robert Spzer, who spearhead the removal of homosexualy om the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn's mental disorr list 1973, reported the journal Archiv of Sexual Behavr that terviews wh nversn therapy patients suggted that some people uld change their sexual paper was cendiary and highly cricized, given that relied on terviews wh patients stead of measurable benchmarks of same-sex sir. Conservative groups were lighted to have support om Spzer, who wasn't tated wh relig bias or anti-gay iology; gay anizatns felt the end, however, Spzer me to agree wh his crics. In October, they both walked together their first pri para and Mom told me that durg a recent church event he spoke up agast homophobic ments ma by some ngregants.

People prott agast the cisn of a Brazilian judge who approved gay nversn therapy Sao Plo, Brazil on September 22, 2017Getty Imag / AFP Contributor / ContributorGabriel Arana was a teenager when his parents found out he was gay. His mother, ncerned his life would be “too difficult” as a gay man, immediately booked an appotment wh a therapist, Joseph Nilosi, who promised to “cure” him of his, who later wrote about the experience for Amerin Prospect 2012, was experiencg what is often referred to as “gay nversn therapy” – therapy tend to get rid of same sex attractn. It says provis a “space for dividuals to safely explore their sexual attractn fluidy issu” via “standard psychotheraptic practice”; s founr, Michael Davidson, said that “people have the right to choose the directn they want to go ” and that “mandatory gay jt won’t work”.

“I will seek legal advice and we will do the right thg, but we'll certaly be there and available for people who've had enough of havg a gay iology phed down their throat. Conversn therapy – sometim referred to as ‘gay cure’ therapy – n take many forms, though much of is nducted a relig settg, revolvg around the ‘power of prayer’. Wrg a 2011 piece that proved pivotal the movement to ban the practice, journalist Patrick Stdwick outled the therapy he received: prayer, non-evince based regrsn techniqu, and the amg of homosexualy as a ’s experience, the US, was siar, wh a foc on seemgly tradnal psycho-theraptic techniqu.

HOW CHRISTIANS TURNED AGAST GAY CONVERSN THERAPY

Nilosi suggted his attractn to other men was a projectn – Arana wanted to be like them, he argued, and he was mistakg that longg for acceptance for activist Vicky Beechg has also spoken and wrten extensively about her own experienc wh gay nversn therapy – hers culmated a public ‘exorcism’ ont of 4, 000 people at a relig nventn, aged 16. (You n fd a list of anisatns which offer rmatn and support for lbian, gay, bisexual, trans, qutng or queer people on Md’s webse) is, however, still a “lack of appropriate servic” that meet the needs of the LGBTQ+ muny. ”Md stead suggt that servic adopt LGBTQ+ affirmative practice approach – a procs which volv “learng, reflectn, analysis and planng, to ensure that a service monstrat s unrstandg of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and heterosexism, and of the impact the have on the experience of LGBTQ+ people accsg servic”.

”The harms of nversn therapySan Francis State Universy found that “pared wh LGBTQ young people who were not rejected or were only a ltle rejected by their parents and regivers bee of their gay or transgenr inty, highly rejected LGBTQ young people were:. 57, 000 youth (ag 13-17) across all stat will receive nversn therapy om relig or spirual advisors before they reach the age of UCLA Williams InstuteStatements by Natnal AssociatnsAmerin Psychologil Associatn:Affirms that same-sex sexual and romantic attractns, feelgs, and behavrs are normal and posive variatns of human sexualy regardls of sexual orientatn inty; reaffirms s posn that homosexualy per se is not a mental disorr and oppos portrayals of sexual mory youths and adults as mentally ill due to their sexual orientatn nclus that there is sufficient evince to support the e of psychologil terventns to change sexual orientatn; enurag mental health profsnals to avoid misreprentg the efficy of sexual orientatn change efforts by promotg or promisg change sexual orientatn when providg assistance to dividuals distrsed by their own or others’ sexual orientatn…Amerin Psychiatric Associatn:… In 1997 APA produced a fact sheet on homosexual and bisexual issu, which stat that “there is no published scientific evince supportg the efficy of “reparative therapy” as a treatment to change one’s sexual orientatn.

”The potential risks of “reparative therapy” are great and clu prsn, anxiety, and self-stctive behavr, sce therapist alignment wh societal prejudic agast homosexualy may rerce self-hatred already experienced by the patient. Many patients who have unrgone “reparative therapy” relate that they were accurately told that homosexuals are lonely, unhappy dividuals who never achieve acceptance or satisfactn.

GAY CONVERSN THERAPY: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

The possibily that the person might achieve happs and satisfyg terpersonal relatnships as a gay man or lbian are not prented, nor are alternative approach to alg wh the effects of societal stigmatizatn discsed…Therefore, APA oppos any psychiatric treatment, such as “reparative” or “nversn” therapy, that is based on the assumptn that homosexualy per se is a mental disorr or is based on the a prri assumptn that the patient should change his or her homosexual of US anizatns that have nounced nversn therapy:. How Christians Turned Agast Gay Conversn TherapyObama's ll to ban the practice reflects a tectonic shift wh the muny that once champned Kelly/RtersThroughout the 1980s and 90s, the Christian right poured money and mcle to promotg the msage that homosexualy was a curable disorr.

Mistry lears promised her that if she ntued prayg, readg the Bible, attendg meetgs, and of urse, refg to intify as gay, her sexual orientatn would eventually change and she uld even marry a man. Acrdg to Kenh Lew, his book, Psychoanalysis and Male Homosexualy, some began to view same-sex erotic behavr ls as s than as a mental-health disorr as early as the 19th century. This was te of other “sful” behavrs as well—for example, dnkenns morphed to alholism and mon posssn beme schizophrenia or a personaly shift was spurred on by the work of Sigmund Frd the early 1900s, even though the inic nrologist was psimistic about eher the possibily or sirabily of changg homosexual orientatn to heterosexual.