Devon Hawkins
Ms.Maggert
English 3
19 December 2016
Conversion Therapy as an Option? Why?
Conversion therapy has been a topic of heated debate for the past several decades and has sparked many issues morally and ethically, alongside the fact that many medical organizations advise against it and discredit it and the vast first hand accounts claiming it as a horrible practice it is no surprize that people are fighting against it. conversion therapy should be banned, this is because the methods used are dangerous and ineffective causing more harm than good.
Conversion therapy is a widely discredited practice because of the methods and side effects of treatment used.The use of conversion therapy and the way it is presented has shown to increase
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depression, anxiety, drug abuse and suicide rates of treated patients.The American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry released a statement saying that there is no evidence that the efforts to change one's sexual orientation are beneficial or necessary and can cause significant harm.There has been no recorded evidence that efforts to change sexual orientation have been successful therefore proving them ineffective.The fact that there is no evidence to support conversion therapy as a valid practice shows that it is ineffective as a whole. The methods used in conversion therapy are cruel and unfit for any medical practice. It has been recorded that in treatments the therapists have used methods such as institutionalization, electroconvulsive shock therapy, inducing nausea and paralysis while showing the patient homoerotic images, and hypnosis.
The American Psychological Association states that it does not approve of the methods used in conversion therapy. A case from the early 1970’s explains where a young Kirk Murphey was reported by his parents that he was showing stereotypically feminine behaviors and interests to one Dr. Reekers who then instructed the parents to to reward kirk if he exhibited masculine behavior and to punish him both mentally and psysically for acting feminine, Reekers claiming this would prevent Kirk from becoming gay later in life. Reekers then went on to publish this as a success story when in fact Kirk indeed came out as gay later in life, and was suffering with the effects of Reekers “treatments” attempting suicide twice one of which was successful and took his life at the age of 38. The information given in the form of the APA and the story of Kirk Murphey show how dangerous the treatments used in conversion therapy should be enough to get the practice …show more content…
banned. Conversion therapy causes significant mental harm in the form of self doubt, hopelessness, depression, and in more serious cases suicidality making it apparent that conversion therapy hurts it’s patients rather than help them. A perfect example of this is the case of Kirk Murphey and how the “treatments” used on him may have seemed like they were to help him “fix” what he could not help and that was a part of him but in actuality hurt him significantly pushing him to suicide later in life. In another case told from Mathew Shurka explained that the treatments used on him tore his family apart and forced him to move from new york to california to help him deal with the confusion of who he was and the depression that followed. After years of help and mental therapy he was able to move back to new york being able to call himself a gay man. The account from Shurka not only shows that conversion therapy harms the patient but the people close to them as well. The therapist tore his family apart and forced him out of his home and there are thousands of people who have similar incidences happen but are too afraid or ashamed to become vocal about it. Any practice that can not only cause harm to the patient physically or mentally but to the patient's family should be advised against in the first place, especially if it is bad enough to cause the patient to commit suicide. People who support conversion therapy consider homosexuality as a disease or a mental disorder or as unnatural, and the people who are willing to go to lengths to prevent homosexuality in someone look to therapists who practice conversion therapy. These therapists are licensed professionals and have studied phycology, they may even offer different treatments besides conversion. Some therapists promise a specific deadline like the therapist who treated Mathew Shurka, who gave a promise of being able to turn him straight in 6 weeks. Many people are influenced by members of their community or family and are forced to think that conversion therapy is an option. Another important influence is the way people were raised because family traditions of what is accepted and not accepted are carried down as easily as any other family tradition. It is these reasons why people support conversion therapy still ,and for some radically, is being supported. Conversion therapy clearly shows that it is ineffective, unnecessary and caused more harm than good the practice as a whole should be banned.
The practice of conversion therapy is widely unsupported by medical organizations of all sorts claiming that there is no scientific data to be able to consider the practice as legitimate. and evidence alongside personal accounts prove that it causes more harm than any good it may claim to do. The right to love who you want to love is important and is a basic right in the constitution when it states that people have the right of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, if someone is happy with being with someone of the same gender that should be accepted because it is their right as a human being to be happy whether or not someone else believes that it is “unnatural”. Bigotry is not bred it is taught and like anything it can be untaught. People should not force their beliefs on others no matter what they think everyone has the right to their own body and their own life no matter what others think. Even if a person doesn't agree with the way someone lives their life they should keep that to themselves, everyone is entitled to their own opinion but what matters is if their opinion can affect the wellbeing of
others. Works cited
The start of this article focuses on a Christian client named George who is plagued with feelings of worthlessness, depression, low self-esteem, and suicide. His mother had also battled depression, and his father had an abusive relationship with alcohol, which caused his father to have verbally and physically abusive altercations with George and his mother. The abusive experiences that George was exposed to as a child paved the way for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as an adult (Garzon, 2005). With all of these factors present in this client’s life, a treatment plan was created that involved scripture interventions. The author made sure to touch on the fact that every client is unique in the hopes that counselors would be aware that one type of scripture intervention might work for one client and not work for another. The article highlights three guiding values when considering these types of interventions; “respect for the client’s autonomy/freedom, sensitivity to and empathy for the client’s religious and spiritual beliefs, and flexibility and responsiveness to the client’s religious and spiritual beliefs.”(Garzon, 2005). ...
A difficulty that has occurred commonly is that a definition of spirituality cannot be agreed on. In a broad explanation of both religion as well as spirituality, religion constitutes the organization of faith, implementing prayer, ministry and theology. Spirituality could be viewed as a more individualized experience with a higher being, creator or idea (Walker et al., 2004, p. 70). These expressions allow a vision of client diversity that is found in all counseling classifications. While defining religion and spirituality properly seems trivial, when training counselors to properly apply the use of such variables in their therapies, a concrete explanation is imperative.
Even though these practices have hurt, or even killed some of their “patients,” there are still some survivors, and journalists that have proven that conversion therapy does not work.
Marc Galanter, M.D., Richard Rabkin, M.D., Judith Rabkin, PH.D., and Alexander Deutsch, M. D. (1979). The “Moonies”: A psychological Study of Conversion and Membership in a Contemporary Religious Sect. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136(2).
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.
Much success has come from religion in therapy. Success has occurred when used to cope with psychological disorders, preventing unhealthy
While competent adults may choose faith healing over conventional treatment, society often becomes concerned when parents make such choices for their children. This concern has created organizations who work on passing legislation protecting children from unproven treatment by faith healing.
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
Canada: Henry Holt and Company, 2000. Print. The. Friedman, Michael. A. A. "Gay Conversion Therapy: A Dark Chapter in Mental Health Care." Psychology Today.
Reparative therapies, also known as conversion therapies, are a group of interventions whose aim is to alter one's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. Any attempts to reform or 'cure' one’s sexual orientation using these 'therapies' are likely to fail and to cause harm such as depression, anxiety, suicidality, and, in some cases, a loss of sexual feeling altogether. In cases where patients themselves expressed the desire to change their sexual orientation, the most effective and appropriate therapeutic responses that resulted in maximum mental health benefit have been provider-initiated support, acceptance, and validation of same-sex sexual orientation. These desires to change are the result of internalized social stigma, discrimination, external pressure.
Worthington, E. L. Jr., Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., & McDaniel, M. A. (2011). Religion and spirituality. In J. C. Norcross (Ed.), Psychotherapy relationships that work (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press
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
Now in order to fully understand the importance of addressing the topics of religion and spirituality into therapy as well as with grasping the importance of becoming skilled at integrating these issues into counseling, it is of great importance to distinguish between spirituality and religion and knowing how a client identifies with each one. And with religion and spirituality playing significant roles in aiding emotional well-bein...
Starting in April of 1952 homosexuality was listed as a “sociopathic personality disturbance” by the American Psychiatric Association (PBS). Four years later, on August 30th, 1956, Evelyn Hooker conducted many psychological tests
There are many opponents of gay people as it is, and they all have their reasons to dislike the idea of permitting them get married. One of the main reasons is that the primary purpose of marriage is procreation. Because gay couples are unable to have children, they should not be allowed to marry (Schiffen 495). Another main argument is that the word marriage means the union of one man and one woman. This is a long-standing theme of most major Western religions. Under a proposed bill known as the Defense of Marriage act, marriage is defined as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” Furthermore, it defines a spouse as “ a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife” (What 1). Under these guidelines, it is quite obvious that gay couples would not be eligible for marriage. People against homosexual marriage also say that it is a person’s choice to be gay. Since the individual chooses to be a homosexual, they should not be given special privileges. Another argument that you hear is that these couples should not get married simply because of the torment and ridicule they would be faced with in their everyday lives. There are news reports from across America telling about how a gay person was beaten or killed just because they were looked at as different. Some of these people would end up the target of verbal abuse and maybe even physical abuse, just because some heterosexual people see them as different.