Conversion therapy is a so-called practice that aims to change, “cure,” or “repair” an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity for LGBTQ+. It is a worldwide issue that causes severe psychological or physical suffering in its victims.
Conversion therapy is conducted in more than 69 nations, according to a recent expert statement from the Independent Forensic Expert Group and IRCT. According to the statement, this is a violation of the global prohibition on torture and ill-treatment.
The IRCT advocates for a universal prohibition on conversion therapy based on the significant and often inconceivable human suffering caused by the practice. This would constitute a crucial step forward in the global protection of LGBTG people, particularly young LGBTQ people, from torture.
To demonstrate how conversion treatment constitutes torture on a global scale, the IFEG issued an expert statement today, supported by a worldwide research report from the IRCT.
The expert declaration acknowledges that conversion therapy breaches patients’ fundamental human rights and the ethics of the medical and mental health professions and has no medical or scientific validity.
Conversion therapy is brutal, inhumane, and demeaning, and in many circumstances amounts to torture; it should be declared illegal in all countries. For many years, documentation on conversion therapy and its procedures has been severely under-researched and frequently vague.
As a result, the global research report gathers information to bridge existing knowledge gaps and provide a proof overview of what conversion therapy practices are committed, where and by whom, and how states are held accountable.
What is Conversion Therapy?
In many communities, homosexuality, transgender identity, and other non-heterosexual behaviors or gender variation are still viewed as diseases or evil. Conversion therapy is a treatment that tries to transform, “cure,” or “fix” a person’s sexual preference.
According to the findings, people are subjected to corrective violence and ineffective treatment (including anti-depressants, psychotics, hormone injections, and anti-anxiety).
Some of these extreme forms of conversion therapy include electroconvulsive therapy, unpleasant treatments involving electric shocks or vomit-inducing medicines, exorcism or ceremonial purification, force-feeding and food restriction, forced isolation, forced nudity, and incarceration.
Conversion therapy is conducted in over 69 countries across the globe, with adults and often kids who are homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or gender diverse.
Conversion therapy is offered in public (hospitals, detention centers, and schools) and private venues such as religious organizations, youth camps, and retreats.
According to the IFEG expert panel, no reputable scientific studies demonstrate that conversion therapy in any form is effective. Also, no treatment or practices that pretend to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity lack any scientific or medical base.
Effects of Conversion Therapy
Conversion therapy is a type of discrimination and repression that causes harm and further isolates victims. Many conversion therapy activities are strikingly comparable to internationally recognized acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or humiliating treatment and punishment.
These acts are thought to cause significant or severe mental and physical pain and suffering, as well as long-term harm because the treatment is inherently humiliating, demeaning, and discriminatory.
Children and minors are especially vulnerable, with conversion treatment participants showing a significant rise in suicidal and depressive inclinations.
According to the IFEG statement, there are common points for PTSD, chronic stress, and adverse health consequences such as skin diseases, stomach ulcers, vomiting, insomnia, migraines, sexual and eating disorders.
Even if a person seeks conversion therapy ‘voluntarily,’ they may be compelled to do so due to their community’s social conventions. The therapist might aggravate the anguish by promoting the sense of wrongdoing and the need to be fixed. This can leave patients with unspoken feelings, which can be pretty harmful.
Conversion Therapy is illegal
The expert statement makes it apparent that conversion therapy is incompatible with health professionals’ core ethical standards and professional duties.
The practice is incompatible with respect for humanity, human rights, dignity, and the right to be free of ill-treatment and torture. Conversion therapy practitioners not only treat individuals on an unscientific and unfounded basis, but they also contribute to a social, cultural, or state-sponsored system of repression against their patients based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.
Health professionals should decline to practice conversion therapy and report colleagues who advertise or practice it to authorities. National medical and mental health organizations should take the necessary steps to collaborate with state authorities and governments to draught legislation prohibiting conversion therapy.
Furthermore, states should regulate health and education services and rid them of this destructive behavior that some encourage.
Affirmative Therapy
Medical experts have recommended replacing the fatal conversion therapy with affirmative therapy that allows individuals in these groups to accept who they are.
With affirmative therapy, these individuals could live a better life without having to suffer from depression, anxiety, or thinking suicidal due to the effect of conservation to make them feel bad about themselves.
If you’re depressed or anxious about your gender preference due to a conversion therapy attempted in the past, talk to a medical health expert and get your life back together. You deserve to be happy!