A Brief History of the Treatment of Homosexuality as a Mental Illness

A Brief History of the Treatment of Homosexuality as a Mental Illness

The first research supporting success in treating homosexuality goes as far back as 1892. The report claims that one-third of the patients were "cured" and another third showed improvement. Over the next fifty years, many psychologists (including Freud) were quite pessimistic about homosexuals responding to the treatment. It wasn't until the 1950s that treatment for homosexuality really took off.This continued through to the 1970s until homosexuality was de-pathologized and removed from the DSM in 1973. However, many Americans still view homosexuality as an illness. According to a recent Newsweek poll, about half of the people surveyed thought homosexuality was a sin, and about a third of the respondents of another survey classified it as a mental illness. In both 1977 and 1999, about 43% of Americans declared homosexual acts should be illegal. Although an empirical analysis, which takes the results of several studies and compares them to see overall effectiveness, found a high success rate of the treatment of homosexuals, it is inappropriate to use the evidence to say that sexual orientation can be changed. However, there have been proven psychological links between sexual orientation and the risk of mental illness. There is evidence that gay men have higher depression and suicide rates and that lesbians are subject to substance abuse. Perhaps this is from society's staggeringly negative attitude towards homosexuals. We should continue to strive for a change in paradigm when it comes to homosexuality.

-Zachary Tezak

Sources:
A. Dean Byrd, Joseph Nicolosi. "A Meta-Analytic Review of Treatment of Homosexuality."
      Psychological Reports. 2002: 1139-1152. Print.
Susan D. Cochran. "Emerging Issues on Lesbians' and Gay Men's Mental Health: Does Sexual
      Orientation Really Matter?." American Psychologist. November 2001: 932-947. Print.