Have you ever thought about the damage conversion camps and therapy do to our LGBT+ community? LGBT+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and many other sexualities and genders. Many people disagree with this lifestyle, and that is where our topic comes from. Conversion therapy started in the 1960s, when aversion therapy was used. Patients were given nausea-inducing drugs, or shocked while being shown same-sex erotic. Methods similar to this are still being used today. There are many different ways therapist use to try and “fix” that can be quite harmful. One of the many is reparative therapy where different measures are taken in order to repel homosexual thoughts. Conversion camps and therapy shouldn’t be legal because of the harmful methods, the trauma it can cause, and there is no proof that they work.
Methods of conversion therapy can include electrocution, nausea and vomiting, paralysis, hypnosis, and snapping elastic bands on your wrist. This can cause physical damage, along with psychological damage. In one case, Samuel Brinton at age 12 had his hands frozen or burned while being shown same-sex attraction. Along with a month where tiny needles were stuck in his fingers, and he was electrocuted. Shocking a 12 year old, just because his sexuality is a problem with you. And while doing so, causing damage to his
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They also face depression at 5.9 times the rate of their fellow peers. One patient named Kirk Murphy was treated at age 5. He was punished for ‘feminine’ behavior, and rewarded for ‘masculine’. Murphy was still homosexual in his adult age, but suffered severe psychological damage. He attempted to commit suicide at age 17, sadly succeeding at age 38. There have been many other cases like Kirk Murphy, where patients were so damaged, they’ve taken extreme measures such as
This is evident in another patient that visited with Mary Pipher: Monica. Monica had older parents who talked about philosophy instead of pop culture. She also struggled with weight and acne, which caused her to fall in a mild depression. After following Pipher’s advice of maintaining a regular exercise plan and making a few friends, Monica regained some confidence by making these adjustments to her unwanted situation. Pipher explains that different people respond to depression in different ways, especially adolescent girls. Some mild cases result in constant anger while more extreme instances lead to suicide. Because these stages make young girls so vulnerable, Pipher advises that these situations, whether mild or extreme, be taken
Scientists in fields connected to neurobiology and psychiatry remain mystified about the cause of Conversion Disorder. The disorder is characterized by physical symptoms of a neurological disorder, yet no direct problem can be found in the nervous system or other related systems of the body. This fact alone is not unusual; many diseases and symptoms have unknown origins. Conversion Disorder, however, seems to stem from "trivial" to traumatic psychological events and emotions rather than biological events. The extreme symptoms often disappear as quickly as they appear without the patient consciously controlling or feigning them. Thus, Conversion Disorder serves as a significant example of how blurred the conceived demarcated divisions of mind/body/behavior can be.
Making a stands that being a homosexual is natural and homosexuality isn’t a mental disorder. Conversion or reparative therapy only suppress their sexual conduct, not their sexual desires. Those type of therapy infuses shame and guilt in a person which can cause the person the shutdown. Secondly, conversion therapy can make a person feel like they have no way out. The highly disapproved therapy can push a person to make a bad rational decision possibly committing suicide. LGBT people are three to seven times more likely to commit suicide. Thirdly, they promote sexual orientation is a choice but your sexual orientation is not a choice. Conversion and Reparative therapy are supported by James Dobson which created a Christian organization called “ Focus On The
People that’ve gone through conversion therapy tell stories about things they went through. Something therapists do is force people to watch heterosexual porn. Therapists believe that watching porn will make men attracted to women while it will make women attracted to men (A Survivor Of Gay Conversion Therapy Shares His Chilling Story, 2016). Another method therapists use is force people to pray the gay away. One man named Paul Southwick wrote about how he tried to pray the gay away but all that did was make him hate himself be felt like wasn’t trying hard enough. Some therapist give their patients electric shocks while showing them homoerotic images. This leads to patients associating homosexuals with pain (A Survivor Of Gay Conversion Therapy Shares His Chilling Story, 2016). Conversion therapy can last for years. This mean that patients are subject to abuse for years. Conversion therapy is extremely harmful. People learn to associate homosexuality with pain and that leads to them hating homosexuals and themselves. It is also very traumatizing. People that have served conversion therapy say they still feel the harmful effects years
Homosexuality was once considered a mental illness which lead to attempts to “cure” it. One of the main theories of homosexuality is that it stems from deviant behavior experienced in childhood. Some men develop homosexual attractions due to a bad relationship with a distant father or in response to childhood molestation (Shapio 5). While some homosexual attractions have been caused by these issues, most homosexuals have not been exposed to molestation or family issues. One of the methods to cure homosexuality is conversion therapy. Conversion therapy consists of a variety of methods, both physical and psychological. Some of these methods include praying away the gay, electroconvulsive therapy, hypnosis, and drugs (“11 Ridiculous” 1). There are many camps which are designed for conversion therapy but many of their practices remain secret. There is little information to be found online regarding these camps because they realize that they are behaving inappropriately so they hide their acts. In the 1980s, homosexuality was determined to have a biological cause; this created two sides – supporters of conversion therapy and its detractors (Friedman 1).
Nevertheless, what is it that drives these numbers to be so high and how can it be prevented? This is caused by individuals being bullied for being different and becoming the outcast in society. Grossman did an experiment Transgender Youth and Life-Threatening Behaviors this experiment was based off of a four questions (1) what is the history of life-threatening behaviors among transgender youth? (2) Do parental reactions to the youths’ gender nonconformity and transgender identity relate to youths’ life- threatening behaviors? (3) Do youths’ feelings about the appearance of their bodies, or body esteem, relate to life-threatening behavior? (4) What are the differences between the transgender youth who had engaged in life-threatening behaviors? This experiment showed that parents indeed did have a big part in the child’s life. They wanted acceptance from their parents with caused an internal conflict if they individual should keep on going with a lie or what he or she felt they were meant to be. These questions were not easy to answer but showed how this lead to being bullied, harassed, depression that was followed by pill and in some cases suicide. This study showed that almost half of transgender youth though about taking their lives at one point (Grossman, 2007). Also when looking for that person for comfort weather it was a parent or teacher there were less thoughts and actions of suicide compared to the ones who did not have support and were abused emotionally of physically. Other studies show that when an adolescent experiences some sort of homophobic teasing, they began to question who they were leading them to feel confused about themselves and resulting in high depression and suicidal rates (Ruehl,
It is very reasonable to conclude that research on depression of those who identify as gay, lesbian or transsexual is not accurate; there is an underreporting of people who identify as these sexual orientations because of the fear of being different. It is understood that those apart of the LGBTQ community actively hide their identity in hopes to avoid being rejected or abused (Bird, 2013). Once the reporting issue of having a smaller percentage of the actual representation of the LGBTQ population is put aside, there is evidence that highly suggests that lesbians and gay men are at higher risk for psychiatric disorders than heterosexuals (Cochran, 2001). Even after underreporting, there is still enough information to conclude that sexual discrimination can have harmful effects on the quality of life. Common factors that have been observed in lesbians and gays that can potentially increase depression during Cochran's study are anxiety and mood disorders and decreased self esteem. Cochran and her partner also noted that dissatisfaction with how one is treated beca...
Suicide is the leading cause of death among LGBT+ people (“LGBTQ”). Much of this depends on the amount of support that the person received when they came out. The National Alliance of Mental Illness writes, “Someone who faced rejection after coming out to their families were more than 8 times more likely to have attempted suicide than someone who was accepted by their family after revealing their sexual orientation” (“LGBTQ”). It obviously can be very traumatic for someone to be rejected for coming out. Imagine if this person was a child. Children depend on the support of their family, and without this support it can cause extremely dangerous behavior. It is no surprise that if a child is accepted by their family they will be better off mentally that those who are rejected. A study done by the psychology department at the University of Washington compared the rates of anxiety of seventy three transgender children and seventy three cisgender children. All of the transgender children’s parents were members of a support group. Not all of the parents supported their children when they initially came out, but have since changed their views. The study found that the anxiety rates were only slightly higher than the anxiety rates of cisgender children (Tanner). This is most likely caused by the rejection that transgender children most likely face every day from strangers. By finding that transgender
The mental health of individuals in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community is something that is a serious problem. For most of the history of the United States and many different parts of the world LGBT people faced much persecution and in some cases even death. This constant fear of discovery and the pressure that one feels on oneself when “in the closet” can lead to major mental distress. Research has shown that people who identify as LGBT are twice as likely to develop lifetime mood and anxiety disorders (Bostwick 468). This is extremely noticeable the past couple years in the suicides of bullied teens on the basis of sexual identity and expression. The stigma on simply being perceived as LGBT is strong enough to cause a person enough mental stress that they would take their own life. This is always unfortunate, but in the case of young individuals it borders on unthinkable. Older LGBT individuals do not tend to fair much better either seeing as they were raised in generations who were stricter on what was considered proper and morally right. All this being said, even as the culture of the world shifts to more accepting LGBT individuals their mental health is something that is only now being looked at thoroughly.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, Conversion therapy is a practice that claims to be able to "turn gay people straight" through therapy. Conversion therapy leads to a variety of negative side effects. According to the Human Rights Campaign, "minors are especially vulnerable, and conversion therapy can lead to depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness, and suicide." Conversion therapy is a horrific practice that should be banned in all fifty states. Conversion therapy is a horrible practice that should be
The concept may seem so simple but it’s a very complex subject matter. With the recent resurgent of transgender, acceptances of what is indefinable gender is socially acceptable. Gender dysphoria formerly known as Gender Identity Disorder is a defined by strong, persistent feeling of identification with the opposite gender and feel discomfort with the assign sex. People with gender dysphoria live as members of the opposite sex by dress attire and mannerism. If a person identified as boy may feel and act like a girl. Several studies have tracked the president of gender dysphoria in children. Many research shows young children is highly unstable and likely to change. There is not predication of gender dysphoric in children. Some young children are highly unstable and likely to change because of social or parental influence. For the children that stay in gender dysphoric many are give hormone suppression before
What is Christianity and why has it been able to develop into a continuously growing and evolving religion?
We believe that Violence and hate against homosexuality need to diminish severely. Gay bashing, gay bullying, and hate crime is very popular when it comes to hating on homosexual people. LGBT people of all ages die every year, whether caused by suicide, injury or homicide. From 1999-2010, the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program says that suicide is the 3rd leading cause (4,600 deaths) of death among young people ages 15 to 24. In 2011 there were 1,572 victims that received hate crimes based on sexual orientation. In an article on PBS, written by a woman named Karen Franklin, a description of an interview with a man called Brian states that him and his ...
The shepherd and sheep relationship is the best illustration for the relationship between pastor and parishioners. When Jesus asked Simon Peter does he love him three times and said to him “Feed my sheep”, the shepherd and flock relationship has been set. Since Jesus is our good shepherd (Jn. 10:11a), he laid out a good example for us to follow - to lay down his life for the sheep. (Jn. 10:11b) Thus, the wellness of both in and out of the parishioners should always be the concern in the pastors’ hearts. Soul care for the people is essential. Christian friendship is the foundation of Christian soul care. Pastoral ministry including preaching, teaching, and worship forms the broad context of pastoral counseling. Pastoral care is within pastoral ministry but broader than pastoral counseling. God’s love is the source and motivation. Within the pastoral care, there are spiritual direction and pastoral
INDTRODUCTION “Sex and Religion”? Those two don’t really go hand in hand,” commented a freshman student from UF. Like this student, numerous people around the world believe this misconception to be true. Whether people argue for or against the importance of gender in religion, more than just what goes on in the bedroom has been heating up lately. Many debates have sparked due to the negative connotation associated with sex when confronted about its position in religious cultures.