16 Awful Things Done in Conversion Therapy

Early gay conversion therapy used brutal techniques, acting more like torture than therapy. Brutal methods aimed to "convert" gay people to straight people, and these continued through the 1970s. Chief among these wasElectroshock therapy is listed in '16 Awful Things Done in Conversion Therapy'.This technique shorted brain pathways, making the patient "forget" they were gay. This did not affect patients at all.

Horrors in early homosexuality treatment included severalSurgeries appear in the list '16 Awful Things Done in Conversion Therapy'.Procedures on willing and unwilling patients included hysterectomy, ovariectomy, clitoridectomy, physical castration, vasectomy, pudic nerve surgery, and lobotomy.

Conversion therapy promotes many pseudoscientific ideas in psychotherapy. Decades have debunked some of these ideas.Some of these items are in '16 Awful Things Done in Conversion Therapy'.include watching heterosexual pornography, blaming patients' parents for being overbearing or abusive, and telling boys to distance themselves from female friends.

Mathew Shurka, a 26-year-oldMathew Shurka advises patients to disconnect from loved ones.He went through six years of conversion therapy. This included being forced to see unlicensed therapists, his father giving him unprescribed Viagra pills, and ineffective aversion treatments.

Exorcism is an extreme modern practice in gay conversion, though not a therapy. In 2009, Manifested Glory Ministriesfaced sharp criticismA 20-minute YouTube video showed a 16-year-old undergoing an exorcism to "cure" his homosexuality.

This practice is bizarre and unscientific, not awful. Nineteenth-century American neurologist Graeme M. Hammond suggestedPrescribing bicycling is listed in '16 Awful Things Done in Conversion Therapy'.Hammond believed same-sex attraction was a mental disorder. He claimed same-sex attraction was just "nervous exhaustion" and insisted "bicycle exercise would restore health and heterosexuality." Research has not proven this."nervous exhaustion" and insisted "bicycle exercise would restore health and heterosexuality." Research has not proven this.

Gay conversion camps are listed in '16 Awful Things Done in Conversion Therapy'.Church groups run these camps and journalists investigate what happens. Much of it is harmless prayer, singing, and role-playing. Unlicensed therapists conduct these in secluded desert camps or other countries, outside US laws.

Taking a cold shower is another bizarre modern method to "cure" being gay. The theory is that something simple like taking a cold shower could work.A Hong Kong psychiatrist takes a cold shower.Hong Kwai-wah, chairman of the Exodus International-linked New Creation Association, takes a cold shower.who suggested cold showers and prayer could wash away same-sex attraction.

Three South African men endure physical torture., Erich Calitz, 25; Nicolas Van Der Walt, 19; and Raymond Buys, 15, died from abuse and starvation at a gay conversion camp there over five years. They faced beatings, being chained to their beds, and being forced to eat their own waste.

No evidence shows any medication or drug affects a person's sexual orientation. Still, conversion practitioners keep prescribing everything from anti-depressants to Viagra to 'cure' being gay.Anti-depressants.They used Viagra to "cure" being gay.

The 2014 suicide of Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old, happened.A 17-year-old.Her parents put her onProzac.Forced andShe went to "Christian therapists."This is one of the terrible tragedies that made President Obama speak about ending gay conversion therapy in America permanently.

Seen in the filmThe Imitation Game.British cryptographer Alan Turing was found guilty of homosexual acts and forced to undergochemical castration.This form of conversion therapy became popular in the '50s.

Exodus International led the Christian effort to use devotional prayer in gay conversion therapy. This umbrella group included over 300 Protestant and evangelical ministries across nearly 20 countries. Exodus shifted its goal from converting homosexuals to heterosexuals to changing behavior instead.

Another form ofdubious psychology.Aversive conditioning, used in gay conversion, introduces painful or unpleasant sensations into a gay person. This makes them associate these feelings with homosexuality. Techniques includeThey used nausea-inducing drugs while watching gay pornography.They introduced disgusting smells or forced them to describe sexual humiliation.

The "trade organization" for gay conversion therapy is the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality.NARTH., founded in 1992, claims it’s a non-denominational and secular group. NARTH focuses on telling “the truth” about homosexuality being a mental disorder.

Cambodian LGBTQ teens are viewed aspossessed by “bad spirits” and oftensubjected to the machinations of atraditional shaman.called a Kru Khmer. These untrained "traditional medicine" practitioners use chants, hit with bamboo, or sometimes burn the teen's hand or back.

In March 2018, a story broke about gay conversion therapistDr. Melvyn Iscove.. Iscove claimed homosexuality was a disease that could be overcome. However, he engaged in various sexual acts with clients since the 1990s and early 2000s. Two male clients reported Iscove abused them in their 20s. They also claimed Iscove had inappropriate contact with them during therapy after they confessed to having gay thoughts. A Toronto court found Iscove guilty of sexual abuse based on these and other actions.