psychology - psychiatrists still offer to treat homosexuality!?

There was a fascinating broadcast regarding the removing of the "81 words from the DSM" and ineffect rewriting medical thinking accross the globe regarding homosexuality. In brief since the early 1970s homosexuality has slowly ceased to be medical illness but a health variant of normal sexual behaviour.

Actually the "81 words" broadcast was in two episode, and was superbly produced by America's National Public Radio (NPR). I found the episode when it was re-broadcast by ABC. The program has loads of history and great characters, giving great insight into (a) the history of homosexuality being treated as a clinical illness and (b) psychiatry and the global dominance on the American Psychiatric Association (APA). I will want to do a separate blog piece regarding the "81 words" broadcast; however here I want to highlight a recent study that a siginificant proportion of psychiatrists still offer to treat homosexuality:

Therapists 'Treating' Homosexuality

As the Church of Scotland bans the ordination of gay ministers for the next two years, it is clear that in some circles homosexuality remains unacceptable. And it is still the case that people sometimes approach therapists or psychiatrists asking them to rid them of their gay or lesbian feelings. In the past, homosexuality was a psychiatric diagnosis. So researchers decided to ask psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, therapists and counsellors whether they would try to change a person's sexuality, despite there being no evidence that it is possible. Now the research has been published and although only four percent said that they would attempt to change a client's sexual orientation, one in six admitted that they had actually tried to help reduce a client's lesbian or gay feelings. Claudia speaks to one of the report's authors, Dr Annie Bartlett, consultant psychiatrist at St Georges Hospital Medical School in London, and to Philip Hodson, spokesperson for the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Apparently in the UK "only 4% are what I would call the fairly looney category" [therapists who try to change people's sexuality] . While I heard the stats for the Stats, however reports from the USA indicate that "homosexuality cures" are more common their, their is clearly a lot more stigma among the evangelical Christian movement in the States. Unfortunately there are many reports of parents forcing teenagers into these sorts of "treatments".