I have discovered an old book written in 1971 that tells of different techniques used to treat homosexuality back when it was considered a disease. It boils down to three separate methods: Psychoanalysis, Behavior Therapy, and Hormonal Treatment.
Psychoanalysis: This is the typical things most associated with psychology - sitting in a comfy chair and talking to a therapist. The therapist tries to look into your conscious and subconscious mind using methods such as dream analysis and free association, which could mean the first word that pops into your head when you hear a certain word, or see an ink blot picture. It is meant to draw out repressed fears and conflicts. According to the book, homosexuality is caused by the avoidance of self-assertion by the male child who fears to take on the masculine role. Treatment ranged from simple counseling to prescription of medicines to environmental adjustment.
Behavior therapy: This is where the creepy stuff comes in. The goal of behavior therapy is to associate negative stimuli with what is unwanted behavior and positive stimuli with more acceptable behavior. It was noted that one of the techniques, shock therapy, involved a shock from a car battery as a negative stimulus to make a patient fear certain behaviors. Another technique used a mixture of caffeine and apomorphine to induce vomiting. Another had patients injected with testosterone and had them view films of females 7 hours later.
Hormonal Treatment: Patients were injected with endocrines in an attempt to control sexual response, but this was a little used and ineffective treatment. It was determined that sexual interest was more affected by psychological and environmental conditioning than hormones.
-Zachary Tezak
Source:
Feldman and MacCulloch. Homosexual Behaviour: Therapy and Assessment. New York: Pergamon
Press, 1971. Print.
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