Britain’s top Psychological organisations have joined together to condemn ‘gay cure’ therapies saying their are an “abuse” of patients and have no scientific basis.
A joint statement from the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) stated that there was no evidence to support claims that sexuality could be changed via counseling and that practitioners who offered proposed cures were harming their patients.
David Pink, CEO of UKCP, said the industry needed to speak out so people knew where professionals stood on this topic.
“The public needs to know where responsible professionals stand on this,” Mr Pink said. “Using psychotherapy to change or convert gay people is an abuse.”
Gay conversion therapies are often backed by religious doctrines. In the United Kingdom some groups advertising conversion therapies have had their advertisements banned.
While homosexuality was previously listed as a psychological disorder nearly all recognised expert organisations have now changed their potion. Back in 2007 the Royal College of Psychologists stated;
“Despite almost a century of psychoanalytic and psychological speculation, there is no substantive evidence to support the suggestion that the nature of parenting or early childhood experiences play any role in the formation of a person’s fundamental heterosexual or homosexual orientation. It would appear that sexual orientation is biological in nature, determined by a complex interplay of genetic factors and the early uterine environment. Sexual orientation is therefore not a choice”
OIP Staff, Image: Stock Image YayMicro/Ambro
