Conversion therapy

Conversion therapy comprises practices intended to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Major medical and mental health organizations reject these practices as ineffective and potentially harmful.

Sexual orientation: A person’s enduring patterns of romantic, emotional, or sexual attraction to others. Some conversion practices target patterns of attraction rather than gender identity.
Minority stress: Chronic stress arising from stigma, prejudice, and discrimination against people with marginalized identities. Pressure to change can intensify stress linked to anti-LGBTQ stigma.
Affirmative psychotherapy: Psychotherapy that recognizes and supports LGBTQ people’s identities without treating them as disorders. It supports exploration and wellbeing rather than pursuing a predetermined identity change.
Sigmund Freud: An Austrian neurologist who founded psychoanalysis and shaped early theories of sexuality. His writings influenced early debates about whether same-sex attraction could be changed.
Conversion therapy bans: Laws or regulations restricting conversion practices, often for licensed professionals treating minors. These measures are the principal legal response to professional conversion practices.
Gender identity: A person’s internal sense of their own gender. Practices may aim to suppress or alter a person’s experienced gender.
Depression: A mental health condition involving persistent low mood or loss of interest, alongside other symptoms. Studies associate exposure to conversion efforts with elevated depressive symptoms.
Gender-affirming care: Health care that supports a person’s gender identity through individualized social, psychological, or medical interventions. It addresses distress by supporting gender needs, not by trying to eliminate a transgender identity.
American Psychiatric Association: A professional organization of psychiatrists in the United States that publishes diagnostic standards. Its removal of homosexuality from the DSM marked a major shift in psychiatric views.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: A federal appellate court covering much of the western United States. Its decisions upheld state restrictions on licensed therapists’ conversion practices.

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