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Carl Erik Fisher's avatar

This is excellent, Awais. Unfortunately, conversion therapy is alive and well in large parts of the US, not just "off the books", as only the minority of states have banned the practice.

The APA has taken a position against conversion therapies, appropriately: https://www.psychiatry.org/getattachment/3d23f2f4-1497-4537-b4de-fe32fe8761bf/Position-Conversion-Therapy.pdf

But this example goes to show that science and medicine do not simply get to declare what is considered or treated as pathological. The law is not bound to our conception of pathology. If we believe in the way we understand mental health and disorder, we must argue for it, and for the role of psychiatry and the psy disciplines to do so, as these brave Iranian doctors are doing.

This is all in response to your admittedly passing mention:

"Even now, there are religious communities in the US where homosexuality remains abhorred, is treated as pathological, and off-the-books conversion therapy is practiced."

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Laura Chilberg's avatar

Fascinating article! I’m not a psychiatrist or psychologist but a sociologist, and there are some fascinating sociological messages in this decision as well. The oppressor defines reality to their advantage identifying the oppressed in a deviant manner. As a deviant they are no longer taken seriously in their objection to these changes. The media is used to spread the psychiatric categorization, and the person becomes sidelined in society, even so far as being permanently isolated in a mental institution, and “crazy person” becomes their primary identity. It is the elite/oppressors who define reality for their society as a whole and use the media, educational systems, justice systems, and political systems to create that reality. It is accepted, and the fake narrative is uppermost.

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