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While I am very happy that I am no longer considered to be mentally ill because I am a lesbian, it always makes me wonder how many other people are tortured by mds because of misplaced belief that their differences are mental illness.
Sexual Orientation
When Homosexuality Stopped Being a Mental Disorder
Not until 1987 did homosexuality completely fall out of the DSM.
Posted Sep 18, 2015
Source: Pixabay
[Article revised on 7 March 2020.]
In the 1950s and 1960s, some therapists employed aversion therapy of the kind featured in A Clockwork Orange to "cure" male homosexuality. This typically involved showing patients pictures of naked men while giving them electric shocks or drugs to make them vomit, and, once they could no longer bear it, showing them pictures of naked women or sending them out on a "date" with a young nurse. Needless to say, these cruel and degrading methods proved entirely ineffective.
First published in 1968, DSM-II (the second edition of the American classiifcation of mental disorders) listed homosexuality as a mental disorder. In this, the DSM followed in a long tradition in medicine and psychiatry, which in the 19th century appropriated homosexuality from the Church and, in an élan of enlightenment, promoted it from sin to mental disorder.
In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) asked all members attending its convention to vote on whether they believed homosexuality to be a mental disorder. 5,854 psychiatrists voted to remove homosexuality from the DSM, and 3,810 to retain it.
The APA then compromised, removing homosexuality from the DSM but replacing it, in effect, with "sexual orientation disturbance" for people "in conflict with" their sexual orientation. Not until 1987 did homosexuality completely fall out of the DSM.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) only removed homosexuality from its ICD classification with the publication of ICD-10 in 1992, although ICD-10 still carries the construct of "ego-dystonic sexual orientation". In this condition, the person is not in doubt about his or her sexual preference, but "wishes it were different because of associated psychological and behavioural disorders".
The evolution of the status of homosexuality in the classifications of mental disorders highlights that concepts of mental disorder can be rapidly evolving social constructs that change as society changes. Today, the standard of psychotherapy in the U.S. and Europe is gay affirmative psychotherapy, which encourages gay people to accept their sexual orientation.
Neel Burton is author of The Meaning of Madness and other books.
One the other side of things...
Submitted by Not You on March 24, 2016 - 10:50pm
So if having different sexual desires is considered OK for the "LGBT" how would that be any different than people who like having sex with children, animals, or anything else that is considered out of the norm?
Anything sexuality other than heterosexuality doesn't make sense medically and there is a reason for that. Sure you can claim that people who have sex with animals, children or whatever random object are doing it to nonconcenting things, but that's not necessarily true with animals. We don't know what animals think, but either way it's still not right. It also points to what is considered a mental disorder, if we have to pander to everyone, than no one is really insane.
Glad I don't think like you
Submitted by Shamu Johnson on June 7, 2016 - 2:48pm
Homosexuality exists in the animal kingdom too.
Animals
Submitted by Jim on September 15, 2016 - 3:58pm
Animals do gay things but they all go for the opposite. Giraffes have gay sex after fighting for the female. Often they stop there but they will do the female afterwards occasionally. None of them are purely homosexual though. Nature can have its faults too you know. There are disorders everywhere. Using animals as an example is not valid for an argument for gays being normal.
that does not contradict the
Submitted by sgh on October 8, 2016 - 11:47pm
that does not contradict the fact that many animals also suffer from psychological disorders.
Still Glad I Don't Think Like You
Submitted by Shamu Johnson on December 20, 2016 - 9:33am
That does not contradict the fact that when they defined it as a mental disorder in the 19th century psychology was brand new and cocaine was medicine. As advancement in knowledge developed they changed their minds about certain things. That's the nature of science. I think I'll go with the scientific consensus before I go with yours.
Mental health experience
Submitted by John on January 21, 2017 - 12:33am
You mean the same science that keeps changing their mind on if eggs are good or bad for you? You can go with that, if it makes you feel good inside. Animals aren't gay, they do those things to show dominance. Put a bunch of people in prison, and the same thing happens. Working in mental health for 8 years I've seen nothing but behavioral problems out of the homosexuals we treat. When we work through the root of the problem, there has always been trauma, or a stressor found earlier in life that influenced the gender identity issues. And it's commonly laughed upon in the psych field that they declassified it as a mental disorder because of how much the gays griped and moaned and complained like little children, and they dropped it just to satisfy your kind, so they wouldn't have to deal with it anymore. What has stuck however, is the high rate of homosexuals having another mental disorder(see what we did there?). Go ahead....Look up the statistics on how many homosexuals also have mental issues. Sorry, you're still mentally ill. The men of your society enjoy putting things in their bottoms. There is absolutely no way that will ever be normal, and your way of thinking and behaving is entirely disgusting.
Homosexuality is biological in origin
Submitted by Daniel Marks on June 27, 2018 - 10:38am
Dahhh. Working in psychology means by default ALL the people you see have problems, including all the heterosexuals. And if putting things in your bottom is so abnormal, why is it such a common behaviour among heterosexuals? Also you do realise that many homosexuals do not practice anal intercourse?
Finally, how would you explain the simple fact that homosexuals can be so easily distinguished from heterosexuals by their innate physical makeup e,g facial shape and structure? If homosexuality were a result of psychological factors, you would not expect to see clear cut differences in the physical structure of hetero and homo sexual indiciduals. Thoughts do not alter the shape of the bones in the human skull.Yet homosexuals clearly display differences in the shape and proportions of cranial structure underlying their faces. In fact, a homosexual can be identified with nearly 100% accuracy, just by looking at the face of the individual, provided the observer knows what they are looking for. How would psychological factors account for this?
Gays
Submitted by George W Lewis on May 9, 2018 - 2:13pm
You are not addressing the issue. There is no issue that men and women can engage in same sex. Sure they can an do. Sure, that is not a metal disorder; but, so what.
Normal sex is between a man and a women. That is how we perpetuate the human race.
I am just very bored with people like you promoting gay sex.
Anonymous wrote:
Submitted by Anonymous on January 31, 2019 - 11:44am
Anonymous wrote:You are not addressing the issue. There is no issue that men and women can engage in same sex. Sure they can an do. Sure, that is not a mental disorder; but, so what.
Normal sex is between a man and women. That is how we perpetuate the human race.
I am just very bored with people like you promoting gay sex.
so there is an issue.
Anonymous: Ignorance is not bliss
Submitted by nobody's fool on January 31, 2019 - 1:33pm
I'm not promoting anything. What I'm doing is refuting uneducated people like you trying to promote ignorance-based bigotry and superiority-based heterosexism. We know that many closeted gays are the very same people who oppose what they are splitting off the most.
Homosexuality
Submitted by Troy on December 22, 2016 - 12:07am
Many animals also eat their young. So far from a good comparison!
shamu
Submitted by camilla on August 25, 2018 - 11:53am
oh, so animals cannot be disordered also? what planet are you on?
Homosexuality
Submitted by Troy on December 22, 2016 - 12:11am
So one interesting tid-bit, as stated in the article, homosexuality being a mental disorder was voted on. FACT: Homosexuality is the only mental disorder to ever be removed without any medical evidence to the contrary. In other words, homosexuality was never proven to not be a mental disorder, no medical evidence was ever uncovered or presented which gave cause to remove it as a mental disorder. Politics did!
Nice Try Bigot
Submitted by Shamu Johnson on December 22, 2016 - 3:18am
I knew someone would try to bring up the 1970s strawman argument. AN INTERESTING TIDBIT, homosexuality was classified as a relatively stable sexual orientation in MEDICAL and SCIENTIFIC circles as early as the late 19th Century. In 1952 when the American Psychiatric association classified it as a mental illness, the National Institute of Mental Health, as well as other studies that followed, consistently FAILED to produce ANY empirical or scientific basis of mental disorder. It wasn't politics that declassified it. It was the SCIENTIFIC METHOD. Do you owe your megachurch pastor any money? Better pay up, so you can learn more about how the earth is 6000 years old, how every muslim that has ever walked the earth is a terrorist, all poor people are lazy, all black people are violent, marijuana is a tool of the devil but alcohol is not, it's totally okay to judge people that you've never met, women should keep their place and not have control of their own fucking body, Paul's words are more valid then Jesus's words, the three strikes law is the greatest idea since sliced bread. They took our jobs! Pop country is the best music that has ever existed in the history of mankind! Drill baby drill! Hey, did you read that Rick Warren book? CS Lewis is the only author worth citing!
Problem
Submitted by T.N. on December 22, 2016 - 10:51am
So, if a female brain thinks it should be in a male body, isn't this a mental illness?
I believe whatever you call it they should be treated with respect.
Homosexuality
Submitted by troy on December 22, 2016 - 10:53pm
Shamu, you're almost comical, name calling and a slew of sarcasm unfortunately doesn't change the facts, nor does it make you sound any less ignorant or any more clever. The scientific method... that's about as broad of a statement as one can make... Ok then, show me the evidence. First show me other mental disorders which were removed by vote, oh and by the way, that vote was 55%, meaning the other 45% who voted opposed removing the diagnoses. But again, please show me one other mental disorder removed by vote, not actual medical evidence... Or show me the abundance of evidence showing homosexuality is not a mental disorder! Explain to me how there are more straight people in this country today who once claimed to be gay, than there are gay people! How do people go to bed gay and wake up straight. There are multiple studies which have shown homosexuality is not inherited, it isn't a "Gene", it has nothing to do with the birthing environment or life in the womb, so what is it? It certainly is not normal behavior. Biology and science shows that male and females have been designed in order to mate. So please, perhaps without the name calling and sarcastic bullshit remarks, show me some actual proof. otherwise, shut the hell up
Site Unbiased Sources
Submitted by Shamu Johnson on December 23, 2016 - 3:41pm
All major medical associations regard homosexuality as a sexual expression and not a mental illness. Your religious convictions are blinding you to this fact. Just because you don't agree with them doesn't mean that it's "politics". Science is not a liberal conspiracy. All it does is describe reality. "There are more straight people that claimed to be gay" - what the hell are you talking about? Show me some actual proof, otherwise shut the hell up.
Homosexuality
Submitted by troy on December 23, 2016 - 10:00pm
Shamu, you keep siting my religious beliefs. I am not religious, just educated and analytical. I've read the studies. The basic premise is since homosexuals can live a relatively normal life without doing harm to themselves or others, then everything is ok! Many studies also state that because society is now more accepting..., neither is a medical diagnosis or "Scientific Method." You stated above that major medical associations regard homosexuality as a sexual expression... Ok, then why is pedophilia not regarded as the same. Because it's aimed at children and we as a society cannot condone such behavior? If you take away the child aspect, make it nearly anything else, then the symptoms are nearly identical to homosexuality. Both affect the part of the brain that causes attraction and sexual arousal! So why is pedophilia still a mental disorder? How is it many who were once gay are now straight? Were they never really gay? And again as I stated before, when homosexuality was removed from the list of mental disorders, it was far from unanimous, 45% of the doctors who voted disagreed... Why? Because there was no new (or existing) evidence introduced to the contrary. Just a very big movement with a lot of political power!
Everybody knows
Submitted by T.N. on December 23, 2016 - 10:37pm
I honestly thought everybody knew it was voted off the mental illness list for political reason. It was voted off because it was said it created a stigma not because it wasn't a mental disorder.
Happy Holidays. ❄☃
Hi Troy. I am an atheist who
Submitted by Rachael on March 11, 2017 - 11:32pm
Hi Troy. I am an atheist who does not think gay couples should be allowed to adopt children in particular lesbian women partly because of their statistical high chance of their marriages breaking up . I too get accused of being a Christian when I say this statement based on facts that are available in any country's census figures to see.
Homosexuality is biological in origin
Submitted by Daniel Marks on June 27, 2018 - 10:58am
The simple fact is that all "Mental disorders" are arbitrary in their diagnosis. There is nothing which absolutely IS a mental disorder, and nothing that absolutely is NOT a mental disorder. Any behavioral trait can be considered normal or disordered according to the standards of the individual. I would suggest that the entire field of psychology is somewhat of a pseudo science. There is currently no satisfactory evidence to make suggestions about the origins of ANY mental condition or state. There are ZERO theories regarding the development of ANY "mental disorder" which can be upheld with any confidence.Put simply, human beings are incapable of understanding the human mind. Nobody does, or likely ever will understand why humans develop any particular state of mind. Theories relating to childhood experiences are generally riddled with holes and entirely unsound. There is no conclusive evidence that childhood experience cause ANY type of mental condition or disorder. Say what you like about homosexuality, as long as you understand that nobody will ever know with any certainty what causes it or how it came about, as is the case with all mental states.
Daniel Marks
Submitted by Nobidy's Fool on June 27, 2018 - 3:12pm
I would suggest that you are just one more imbecile without the education to interpret, let alone, design a study using scientific inquiry.
Cannot argue with a fool
Submitted by Daniel on June 27, 2018 - 6:54pm
Anonymous wrote:I would suggest that you are just one more imbecile without the education to interpret, let alone, design a study using scientific inquiry.
I dont really care what you suggest.I care about facts, not suggestions. The available studies made with scientific enquiry indicate the field of psychology is one with no merit.No one cares whether the DSM considers homosexuality a disorder.It is not relevant. The group which author the manual are a bunch of unqualified fools at best....
Daniel
Submitted by Nobidy's Fool on June 27, 2018 - 7:03pm
" The group which author the manual are a bunch of unqualified fools at best....," says Daniel. You can't even use third grade level syntax (correction- The group who authors the manual is a bunch of unqualified fools, at beast....), let alone comment on your intellectual superiors. My guess is that you have been diagnosed with mental illnesses a number of times, by a number of mental health professionals and that is the basis for your defensiveness.
No
Submitted by Dan on June 27, 2018 - 7:35pm
No
I have never been diagnosed with any mental disorders.
Sorry bud that you are all cut up about being exposed as a fraud....
I also find it hilarious that
Submitted by Dan on June 28, 2018 - 7:52am
I also find it hilarious that you attempted to fault my spelling and grammar, and went on to spell best as "beast".
Clearly all your replies are riddled with grammatical errors.Why don,t you go back to elementary school and learn how to read and write before you go attempting to diagnose mental disorders....
To Daniel
Submitted by Nobidy's Fool on June 27, 2018 - 7:24pm
You are so ignorant of the subject that you can't even spell "inquiry" correctly. Go back to the middle school you dropped out of and take remedial English.
Ever heard of typing on an i
Submitted by Dan on June 27, 2018 - 7:31pm
Ever heard of typing on an i phone screen??
Fuck off you ingnoramus.Go and apply some useless CBT to your patients.Sexually molest them whilst your at it, and charge them $150 p/h to sit in a chair, nod your head and make a few bullshit suggestions.
Your profession is a fraud.End of story.
To Dan
Submitted by Nobody's Fool on June 27, 2018 - 7:40pm
I take it you've had cognitive behavoural therapy. BTW, you iPhone didn't mistakenly type "your" instead of the contraction "you're ( you are). You're uneducated self did. Goodbye, Dan. You've been exposed as incapable of even spelling grade two vocabulary.
Given that the topic at hand
Submitted by Dan on June 27, 2018 - 8:02pm
Given that the topic at hand has nothing to do with spelling, and that i have spent a total of 2 minutes typing all 8 of my replies on a smart phone screen, i disregard you assertions re. my intellect.
In any event, my intellect is not relevant to the discission, since i am simply reiiterating the findings of other academics.
Any person who believes in psychotherapy is a gullible fool. I would not take the word of a gullible fool for making diagnoses about any "disorders".
Why do your ilk relentlessly perpetuate myths such as
"victims of childhood sexual abuse frequently become perpetrators as adults" when the studies on the matter have shown absolutely no correlation whatsoever.
Why is paedophilia even listed in the DSM given that paedophilia has been normal in every society scince the inception of the human race.Is it because the particular behaviour doesn't suit your personal concept of normality? Homosexuality can be added or removed from the DSM randomly just as can all other disorders for the simple reason these disorders are all based on political ideology, not science.....
Regarding your criticism of
Submitted by Dan on June 27, 2018 - 8:54pm
Regarding your criticism of my grammar, if you read what i wrote, you will see that "your" was indeed the correct spelling, as "you're" i.e you are, does not fit the sentence.So it is in fact you who has a poor grasp of the english language.
Check mate.....
when you say pedophilia
Submitted by jennifer on August 8, 2018 - 10:14pm
do you mean ephebophilia where someone is attracted to teenagers? or hebephilia where someone is into pre-teens? I think pedophilia is babies and toddlers, and I wouldn't say that has ever been normal or okay in a culture. But definitely ephebo- and hebephilia have been and are.
Mental health experience
Submitted by John on January 21, 2017 - 12:41am
Your behaviors in this comment show how random and unusual your brain pattern is. Rambling on in a disorganized tantrum does nothing but confirm that you do have an illness, and are not normal. No, you're not mentally ill because you're gay. You're gay because you have a mental illness.
Homosexuality is biological in origin
Submitted by Dan on June 27, 2018 - 11:31am
If heterosexuals are innately more mentally healthy than homosexuals, why do we see such practices as fecal ingestion, ball busting( having the testicles kicked hard and repeatedly by the female partner), choking and inducing vomiting by way of inserting the male penis down the throat of the female, having multiple partners anally penetrate the recipient at the same time and often all of the females orifices penetrated at the same time by a multitude of opposite sex participants? I'm pretty certain heterosexuals are no mentally healthier, nor prone to healthy sexual practices than homosexuals.....
Mental health experience
Submitted by John on January 21, 2017 - 12:46am
You're close! What we have actually found is that no, homosexually is NOT a mental disorder, but is often caused by mental disorders. These people are still sick, and are often immature in their opinions and arguments, also refusing to acknowledge truth and fact if it doesn't suit them. Hope that helps clarify!
Troy
Submitted by Nobidy's Fool on June 27, 2018 - 11:20am
Troy, you are very uniformed. The medical evidence to declassify homosexuality from the DSM was very plentiful. You are obviously not trained as a clinician or social scientist. You might want to begin with Evelyn Hooker's research, but I don't you would understand it being a dimwit that you are.
Troy's Ignorance
Submitted by Nobody's Fool on August 25, 2018 - 12:02pm
You know zero about the scientific evidence from sources like Havelock Ellis and Evelyn Hooker that led to the declassification of homosexuality. Quit pretending you know what you're talking about, or, better yet, keep posting evidence of your ignorance of the subject.
Not you
Submitted by Nobody's Fool on June 20, 2018 - 11:23am
The difference between LGBT people having sex with each other and adults having sex with children and animals is CONSENT. You seem to be unclear about this. Perhaps you have issues in that area.
Unfortunate
Submitted by F Jones on March 13, 2016 - 7:12pm
I get the distinct impression that as much as social mores had to do with classifying this as a disorder, changing ones got rid of the classification.
Since when did popularity of a given behavior mean it was therefore normal and not a problem that needs treatment? Wife beating? Animal abuse? Suicide? All prevalent in humanity throughout history.
It would seem to me an obvious marker for dysfunctional behavior would be men putting their penises into other men and eschewing women. After all, our anatomy is clearly made for certain sexual functions.
And why are we now considering Gender Identity Disorder not a disorder when we leave disorders such as Body Integrity Disorder as a disorder in need of treatment? This is a politically-tinged contradiction.
Politics
Submitted by Joshua Jefferson on March 22, 2016 - 11:56pm
Wow, that was well spoken. No angst or bias, just truth. Better put than how i would've said it, respect.
"After all, our anatomy is
Submitted by Krill on May 21, 2016 - 11:02am
"After all, our anatomy is clearly made for certain sexual functions."
Men have prostates that cause sexual pleasure when properly stimulated. A penis seems the most "natural" way to stimulate this, so.... Maybe evolution intended it to be that way? :))
Also, gender is something that we artificially assigned. Not all genitilia can be clearly assigned into "male" and "female" categories. Intersex people exist.
(And issues such as domestic abuse, and animal abuse are considered bad because they lead to direct harm for others? So, um, that's kind of why it's not seen as a good thing now.)
Krill comment
Submitted by Dad on November 16, 2017 - 6:44am
Prostate pleasure? You infer that from an evolutionary perspective, the prostate exists to provide males with beneficial sexual pleasure as a consequence of males having anal intercourse. Sounds like pseudoscience to me.
Gender assignment? Who's the "we" who is artificially assigning gender? Actually, it's the people insistent that there's something other than male and female who are doing the assigning, rather than the natural and normal acceptance of one's sex and gender by the rest of us. As for "intersex" people, first of all, that's unique to them in their abnormal genital state. Not shaming it, describing it. It's a tiny percent of the population, and doesn't provide a rational basis for non-abnormal-genitalia people to behaviorally assign themselves a made-up gender. That, again, would be pseudoscience.
You refer to "good" and "bad" in your last section. Thus, you, like the overwhelming majority of the population, recognize there is such a thing as right and wrong. But who decides? Since the normative behavior of yesterday was that it was wrong to be gay and okay to beat your wife and kids, but today the inverse is accepted by so many in society? Look at what Spacey did, and Takei, and so many others. Look at the comment from the former lesbian therapist above. Read and think, don't just insist that you're right. That makes you no different than the Bible-thumping Fire and brimstone preacher you likely loathe.
Milo yiannoupolis is outright flaming gay, but just like George Takei, he openly describes his formative gay experience as having been molested by a camp counselor when he was 12-13. So many LGBT describe formative experiences of emotional and sexual abuse trauma, that that evidence is overwhelming. But it would conflict with the political narrative, so it's ignored. Once again, pseudoscience ("animals display gay behavior!") triumphs.
F Jones
Submitted by Nobody's Fool on August 25, 2018 - 11:56am
That's right. A penis fits well in an anus. Perfect fit.
Good to Know...
Submitted by Brad Poole on April 26, 2016 - 4:36am
So, what your saying is that if society deems something ok, it is? What a joke! Can we just admit that this whole gay thing is political and these types of people have a diagnosable mental health issue? Enough gays kicked up a fuss and got the laws changed, period end of story. I guess if the majority of society deems pedophilia ok it is as well.
smh
Submitted by k on May 11, 2016 - 4:54pm
I think being gay lesbian or transgender is wrong and believe it is a mental disorder even in the bible it says it's a sin! I think it's repulsive and not right and honestly it's disgusting but I will let god be the punisher
that's a dumb argument
Submitted by fuq u on December 16, 2016 - 12:22am
Some other abominations include: eating pig, eating left overs, eating any sort of sea creature that isn't a fish, checking your horoscope, burning incense, women wearing pants. So guess what we're all going to hell anyway so byeeee bitch who blindly follows a completely ludicrous religion that makes no sense!
Religion
Submitted by Tom Tucker on January 21, 2017 - 12:50pm
Believing in a personal god is also a mental illness.
The god in the bible flooded the earth which makes him a baby killer.
Why would you worship a baby killer?
Homosexuality
Submitted by troy on January 21, 2017 - 10:12pm
That is the stupidest comment I've ever read! Don't dive into things you know nothing about!
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