HOMOSEXUALITY – THERAPY
Treatment to ‘cure’ homosexuality is ineffectual, whether prolonged deep psychoanalysis or aversion therapy is used. Aversion therapy is particularly offensive. In this form of behavioural modification, the homosexual is attached to a machine which gives him an electric shock. He is then exposed to erotic pictures; when a male is shown, the shock is given, when the picture shows a female, the shock is withheld. The theory is that the ‘patient’ will learn to associate male erotic pictures with pain and will change his erotic preference as a consequence. Treatment rarely produces a complete conversion of an adult from exclusive homosexuality to satisfactory heterosexuality. Although enthusiastic psychoanalytic and aversion therapists report high percentages of success, most report soon after treatment, on selected patients, who are usually under the age of 25 and often bisexual. The committed homosexual rarely changes permanently, and the longer the follow-up, the less effective is treatment shown to be.
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