Conversion therapy, sometimes known as “reparative therapy,” is a range of dangerous and discredited practices that falsely claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, the Human Rights Commission says.
A new study from researchers has shown that conversion therapy is linked to mental illness. According to the study, published on The Gerontologist which analysed data from 1,156 queer men collected between 2016 – 2019, conversion therapies contribute to negative psychosocial health consequences for the queer men involved. The queer men analysed for the study were at least age 40 and with a mean age of 62.6 years.
This is after UN experts called for a global ban on the practice. According to a report by GLAAD, 20,000 LGBTQ youth (ages 13-17) will receive conversion therapy from a licensed healthcare professional before they reach the age of 18 in the 41 states that currently do not ban the practice.
“Our analyses supported our hypothesis that MSM who underwent conversion therapy would have higher odds of having negative psychosocial conditions compared with MSM who had not. These findings support classifying conversion therapy as a sexual minority stressor that contributes to psychosocial health inequality—specifically for depressive symptoms and internalized homophobia—within community samples of MSM,” the research authors concluded.
“Though our study provides important insights into the potential dangers of conversion therapies, these findings may offer only a glimpse into the magnitude of harm imposed by these practices,” the research authors added.
