Homosexuality … A Mental Disorder?

Diagnosis “Homosexuality” – Sexual Deviancy (302.0)

My first clinical experience:

It was somewhere around the late ’70s when I first met Bill. Since his LDS Mission he had been “acting out” his homosexual thoughts and caught  AIDS.  He was the first AIDS case in our community mental health agency.  I recall it being a warm summer day and opening my office window as I listened to his story.  I assisted him with the admission paperwork. Knowing that AIDS was deadly and unsure how it was transmitted, after Bill left I got a Kleenex, picked up the pen he signed his paperwork with and threw it in the garbage can.

Page 44 from my DSM II is depicted in the adjacent figure. It reads:

“This category is for individuals whose sexual interests are directed primarily toward objects other than people of the opposite sex…”

The text  lists: “Homosexuality” first, followed by sexual deviations like “Pedophilia,” “Fetishism,” and “Transvestitism.”

Using DSM II Bill qualified for the mental disorder diagnosis of Sexual Deviation-Homosexuality (302.0) allowing us as mental health providers to bill insurance and perform what is now called “reparative therapy”. (Reparative Therapy is a term used to describe treatment attempts to change a person from a homosexual or bisexual orientation to a “normal” or heterosexual orientation.)

In the Beginning:

“Homosexuality was made a capital crime in the Bible.” (LDS General Conference  1969,  April,  Saturday Morning,  Mark E. Petersen.)  God Said: “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them“ (Lev. 20: 13).

DSM

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders.

Psychologists and Psychiatrists Said:

1980- The Diagnosis of Homosexuality was a “Mental Disorder” Only If It Causes “Distress”

Because of pressure in 1973, the American Psychiatric Association voted to remove “homosexuality” from DSM. Subsequently, a new diagnosis, “ego-dystonic homosexuality,” was created for the DSM III. This meant someone would have to experience “distress” about their sexual orientation before it could be classified as a “Mental Disorder.”

1986-The diagnosis of “Homosexuality” Removed

In 1986, the diagnosis was removed entirely from the DSM-III-R. The only remnant of “ego-dystonic homosexuality” occurred under “Sexual Disorders Not Otherwise Specified,” which included persistent and marked distress about one’s sexual orientation.

2009-APA To the World

Last year  “American Psychological Association (APA)” reiterated that homosexuality is not a mental disorder and warned mental health professionals against trying to help those wishing to change:

August 5, 2009. The American Psychological Association (APA) adopted a resolution Wednesday urging mental health professionals to avoid telling clients that they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments…. The approval was made at the APA’s annual convention with a 125-4 vote. (APA.)

My Most Recent Clinical Experience

Over 30 years later I met Sarah, a 19-year old female wanting to go on an LDS Mission.  She had same-gender thoughts and acted out sexually with a girlfriend back home.  I sat in my temperature controlled office as I listened to her story.  I completed no admission paper and could bill no insurance for her “homosexual” orientation. Because I was licensed psychologist I chose to meet with her just as friends –  friends meeting regularly to help her change from a homosexual orientation to a “normal” orientation.

Last Sunday she was excited to report she experienced some attraction to a young man at her single’s ward.

How things have changed!
Or have they?

Gospel Principle:

“The fact that some governments and some churches and numerous corrupted individuals have tried to reduce such [homosexual] behavior from criminal offense to personal privilege does not change the nature nor the seriousness of the practice. Good men, wise men, God-fearing men everywhere still denounce the practice as being unworthy of sons and daughters of God; and Christ’s church denounces it and condemns it so long as men and women have bodies which can be defiled.” (Spencer W. Kimball, “President Kimball Speaks Out on Morality,” Ensign, Nov 1980.)  Isaiah warns, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20).

Additional Information

Evergreen International is the most complete resource for Latter-day Saints on same-sex attraction.

NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality) upholds the rights of individuals with unwanted homosexual attraction to receive effective psychological care, and the right of professionals to offer that care.