The Washington Post (9/11, Bever) reports, “Transgender people exposed to conversion therapy to change their gender identities, particularly as children, are at a greater risk of psychological distress than transgender people who were not treated with conversion therapy,” researchers concluded after analyzing “survey responses from more than 27,000 transgender adults across the United States and U.S. territories and military bases.” The study revealed that individuals “who said they had undergone conversion therapy at any point during their lifetime were twice as likely to have attempted suicide than those who had never undergone such therapies.” People “who were subjected to conversion efforts during childhood were four times as likely to have tried to take their own lives,” the study revealed. The findings were published online Sept. 11 in JAMA Psychiatry.
According to the NBC News (9/11, Fitzsimons) website, “18 states, along with the District of Columbia,” currently “ban the practice of conversion therapy on minors.”
Newsweek (9/11, Gander) reports that the American Psychiatric Association is among the “leading medical organizations” that “have stated that no one should seek out conversion therapy to change their gender or sexual identity.”
MedPage Today (9/11, Hlavinka) reports, “Prior studies have” also demonstrated “conversion therapy for sexual orientation to be associated with increased rates of depression, anxiety, and self destructive behavior.” In a 2013 position statement, the American Psychiatric Association wrote, “No credible evidence exists that any mental health intervention can reliably and safely change sexual orientation; nor, from a mental health perspective does sexual orientation need to be changed.”
Related Links:
— “Conversion therapy associated with severe psychological distress in transgender people, study says, ”
Lindsey Bever, The Washington Post, September 11, 2019