|
So we’re doing conversion therapy on adults without their consent now? Looks like it.
An openly gay Oregon male seeking treatment for depression, has accused his therapist of trying to make him straight without his permission.
Sounds promising…
More after the jump.
Max Hirsh started seeing a psychiatrist while living in Portland, Oregon in February 2011. He claims he was suffering from depression and “wanted to improve his romantic relationships with men.”
Instead, the psychiatrist—whose name has not been released pending investigation—focused on potential reasons for Hirsh’s same-sex attractions rather than dealing with his depression or giving him constructive tools to improve his romantic relationships.
He allegedly encouraged Hirsh to “improve his relationship with his father, seek platonic friendships with male mentors, and engage in team sports and other masculine pursuits.”
We’re guessing the rationale is that if Hirsh spends lots of time with men, but isn’t having sex with them, he’ll suddenly be straight…
Hirsh asserts that he did not request a cure for his homosexuality, and the psychiatrist did not advertise his use of conversion therapy.
The therapist tried to convince Hirsh that he was actually a closet heterosexual. Hirsh recalls the therapist saying, “But you’re heterosexual.’’
When Hirsh insisted he was gay; the psychiatrist denied it.
Hirsh says, “He said ‘No,’ like he had some extra information about my sexuality that I didn’t.”
He stopped meeting with the therapist after six visits, though he returned based on pressure from his parents to see a therapist for his depression. The doctor also called to reassure Hirsh that he had no problem with him being gay.
However, the doctor soon re-introduced his conversion themes, sending Hirsh further into depression. Hirsh says, “It was clear that he wasn’t actually, in any way, helping with my depression. I was feeling worse.’’
When Hirsh asked the therapist directly about his thoughts on conversion therapy, the doctor acknowledged that he’d studied under a “gay-conversion psychoanalyst” during his medical residency. He also expressed the belief that conversion therapy would become more widely accepted as the United States “becomes more conservative.”
…So until that happens a licensed medical professional will try to mentally rape patients into being someone that they’re not. Lovely.
Image Source
 |
