How Conversion "Therapy" Is Ineffective And Deadly
Dec 22 2021
Conversion therapy is a pseudoscientific process that tries to change a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity. It's still widespread and very damaging and it does not even work.
Conversion therapy is widely condemned by the medical community and there is little to no evidence that it works instead it causes psychological damage. A letter signed by many medical organizations calls for the banning of conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is still widespread, a survey done by the Trevor Project found that 13% of LGBTQ+ youth were subject to conversion therapy often by nonaccepting parents.
Conversion therapy is common in the form of talk therapy. This involves invalidating someone's identity, attacking them, and treating their identity as a disease, which it's not. This is very damaging. Conversion therapy can also use aversion "treatment" which is the use of electric shocks and induced vomiting coupled with the showing of erotic same sex imagery. Luckily this method is not that common.
Conversion therapy is destructive to mental health, the same survey by the Trevor Project from before found that LGBT+ youth subject to conversion therapy were twice as likely to attempt suicide. Conversion therapy increases depression and self-hatred in people too. In an interview with HuffPost, a victim of conversion therapy said "We were no longer people at the end of the program" and “I want people to know that conversion therapy is literal torture."
Conversion therapy is currently banned in 20 states in the US and must be banned nationwide to protect LGBTQ+ youth. Opponents of A ban say that a ban would inhibit their religious freedoms but of course, child abuse is not freedom.
