Myth
Being Gay is Having "Mental Illness"
THE LIE:
http://www.narth.com/docs/whitehead.html
Recent studies show homosexuals have a substantially greater risk of suffering from a psychiatric problems than do heterosexuals. We see higher rates of suicide, depression, bulimia, antisocial personality disorder, and substance abuse. This paper highlights some new and significant considerations that reflect on the question of those mental illnesses and on their possible sources.
The Truth:
Often the anti-gays will make the statement that gays have emotional problems. They make the incorrect claim that the two go hand and hand. The reality is that they are the ones who cause the gays to have emotional and mental depression.
While trying to deal with all the challenges of being a teenager, gay/ lesbian/ bisexual/ trans gender (GBLT) teens additionally have to deal with harassment, threats, and violence directed at them on a daily basis. They hear anti-gay slurs such as "homo", "fagot" and "sissy" about 26 times a day or once every 14 minutes. Could you imagine a school allowing a Black American or a Mexican American to hear he term "nigger" or "spick" every 14 minutes? Even more troubling, a study found that thirty-one percent of gay youth had been threatened or injured at school in the last year alone!
-
Gay and lesbian teens are at high risk because ?their distress is a direct result of the hatred and prejudice that surround them,' not because of their inherently gay or lesbian identity orientation.
-
Gay, and bisexual youth are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts. For female gays it is 5x more likely.
http://www.nmha.org/pbedu/backtoschool/bullyingGayYouth.cfm
THE TRUTH:
In a review of the literature, Gonsiorek (1982) argued there was no data showing mental differences between gays and straights--or if there was any, it could be attributed to social stigma.
The nation's two mainstream psychiatric and psychological associations, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association, deny reparative therapy's very premise. Along with the National Association of Social Workers, these groups say homosexuality simply is not a mental disorder.
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_mental_health.html
American Psychiatric Association.
http://healthyminds.org/glbissues.cfm
Is Homosexuality A Mental Disorder?
No. All major professional mental health organizations have gone on record to affirm that homosexuality is not a mental disorder. In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association's Board of Trustees removed homosexuality from its official diagnostic manual, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Second Edition (DSM II). The action was taken following a review of the scientific literature and consultation with experts in the field. The experts found that homosexuality does not meet the criteria to be considered a mental illness.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) says, "The Board recognized that a significant portion of gay and lesbian people were clearly satisfied with their sexual orientation and showed no signs of psychopathology. It was also found that homosexuals were able to function effectively in society, and those who sought treatment most often did so for reasons other than their homosexuality." The APA also says, "Reparative therapy, also known as conversion therapy, is a term that is used to describe treatment attempts to change a person from a homosexual orientation to a heterosexual orientation. There is no published scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of reparative therapy as a treatment to change one's sexual orientation. It is not described in the scientific literature, nor is it mentioned in the APA's latest comprehensive Task Force Report, Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders (1989)."
American Psychological Association
http://www.apa.org/pi/statemen.htm
The American Psychological Association says, "Homosexuality implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability, or general social and vocational capabilities. Further, the American Psychological Association urges all mental health professionals to take the lead in removing the stigma of mental illness that has long been associated with homosexual orientations."
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_mental_health.html
Being Gay Is Just as Healthy as Being Straight
http://www.psychologymatters.org/hooker.html
Evelyn Hooker's pioneering research debunked the popular myth that homosexuals are inherently less mentally healthy than heterosexuals, leading to significant changes in how psychology views and treats people who are gay.
Findings
In the 1950's, Dr. Evelyn Hooker studied 30 homosexual males and 30 heterosexual males recruited through community organizations. The two groups were matched for age, IQ, and education. None of the men were in therapy at the time of the study. Dr. Hooker administered three projective tests, which measure people's patterns of thoughts, attitudes, and emotions--the Rorschach, in which people describe what they see in abstract ink blots, the Thematic Apperception Test [TAT] and the Make-A-Picture-Story [MAPS] Test), in which people tell stories about different pictures. Unaware of each subject's sexual orientation, two independent Rorschach experts evaluated the men's overall adjustment using a 5-point scale. They classified two-thirds of the heterosexuals and two-thirds of the homosexuals in the three highest categories of adjustment. When asked to identify which Rorschach protocols were obtained from homosexuals, the experts could not distinguish respondents' sexual orientation at a level better than chance. A third expert used the TAT and MAPS protocols to evaluate the psychological adjustment of the men. As with the Rorschach responses, the adjustment ratings of the homosexual and heterosexuals did not differ significantly." Based on these findings, Dr. Hooker tentatively suggested that homosexuals were as psychologically normal as heterosexuals.
Significance
Hooker's work was the first to empirically test the assumption that gay men were mentally unhealthy and maladjusted. The fact that no differences were found between gay and straight participants sparked more research in this area and began to dismantle the myth that homosexual men and women are inherently unhealthy.
Practical Application
In conjunction with other empirical results, this work led the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from the DSM in 1973 (it had been listed as a socio pathic personality disorder). In 1975, the American Psychological Association publicly supported this move, stating that "homosexuality per se implies no impairment in judgment, reliability or general social and vocational capabilities.(and mental health professionals should) take the lead in removing the stigma of mental illness long associated with homosexual orientation." Although prejudice and stigma still exist in society, this research has helped millions of gay men and women gain acceptance in the mental health community.
Cited Research
Hooker, E. (1957). The adjustment of the male overt homosexual. Journal of Projective Techniques 21, 18-31.
Additional Sources
Bohan, J. S. (1996). Psychology and sexual orientation: Coming to terms. New York: Routledge.
