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Reparative Therapies on Gays and Lesbians through Cruel, Inhumane and Humiliating Treatments Has Increased in Iran<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 6Rang, 17 May 2018 – The number of private and semi-governmental psychological and \u200epsychiatric institutions and clinics treating homosexuals has seen a significant increase in the last year, despite the \u200eIslamic Republic officials\u2019 denial during a UN session<\/a> in March 2017, of promoting psychological and psychiatric reparative \u200etherapies to change individuals\u2019 sexual orientations and gender identities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u200e6Rang\u2019s (Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network’s) findings, published on the occasion of the \u200eInternational Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), show that the use of \u200ereparative therapies such as electric shock therapy to hands and genitalia, \u200eprescribing psychoactive medication, hypnosis, [coercive] masturbation to pictures of the \u200eopposite sex, etc., on gay and lesbian individuals has continually increased. According to \u200einternational [human rights] law, the use of medicinal or medical methods to change a person\u2019s sexual \u200eorientation or gender identity constitutes torture.\u200e<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u200e6Rang\u2019s field study on the polyclinics, institutions and private clinics, that have listed counselling \u200eto LGBTI people as one of the areas of their expertise, show that these centres consider \u200ehomosexuality to be a disease or sexual deviation, and have made a business by alleging in \u200etheir advertisements that they can cure this disease. Some of them believe that homosexuality \u200eis a form of addiction and treat homosexual clients with the same methods used to cure drug \u200eaddicted patients of addiction. This study includes a total number of 11 medical centres, counselling clinics \u200eand private clinics, five of which are in Tehran, the rest in cities across Iran.\u200e<\/p>\n <\/p>\n An institution called \u2018The Anonymous Sex Addicts Association of Iran\u2019<\/a> with branches in 18 \u200eIranian provinces, has listed curing homosexuality among its treatment programs. The institution\u2019s website claims that participation in these sessions can result in transforming same-sex sexual feelings \u200einto brotherly feelings towards the person of the same-sex.\u200e<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Due to the lack of clear, accurate data on governmental budgets in this regard, 6Rang was \u200eunable to verify whether the clinics and institutions active in reparative therapies on homosexuals \u200ereceive governmental funds.\u200e<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shadi Amin, coordinator of 6Rang, states that, \u201cIt\u2019s been many years since the international \u200ecommunity has raised serious questions on the pathologizing view and the medical approach toward sexual \u200eorientation and gender identity and [such reparative therapies] have since been banned in many countries. \u200eHowever, the findings of our research show how a medical view to these issues inhibits \u200eunderstanding and social acceptance in the absence of awareness-raising on sexual \u200eorientation and gender identity, and endangers the lives of many young adults and teenagers.\u201d\u200e<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In addition to carefully reading the posts, brochures and videos published<\/a> on websites of \u200ethese centres, to collect information, 6Rang\u2019s \u200evolunteers also went to these clinics disguised as clients and documented how they were treated after disclosing feelings of same-sex attraction. This research has additionally taken \u200einput from two psychology experts of LGBTI issues in Iran. The results show that many of these \u200epsychiatric and psychological centres in Iran use one of the following methods, or a \u200ecombination of them, to try to change the sexual orientation and gender identity of their gay or \u200elesbian clients.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first group consists of centres and clinics that consider both same-sex attraction and an \u200einclination to change one\u2019s sex to be symptoms of another psychiatric disorder, thereupon \u200eattributing the person\u2019s different sexual preferences to a certain psychiatric diagnosis, and then taking measures to treat that diagnosis. For instance, a same-sex attraction may be considered a \u200esymptom of a mood disorder, and the patient is consequently prescribed mood stabilizers or antipsychotics. As \u200eanother example, same-sex attraction may be regarded as a mental obsession, and common \u200emethods to treat obsessive disorders including pharmacotherapy (medicinal treatment) and \u200ecognitive behavioural therapy are applied. This group of health-care professionals consider persons with a desire to \u200echange or modify their sex (transsexuals), to be suffering from a delusion that makes them \u200ebelieve they should live in an opposite-sexed body. They proceed to treat this \u201cdelusion\u201d \u200esymptomatically, through the use of antipsychotic medications or shock therapy.\u200e<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The second group of medical centres claim to specialize in homosexual reparative therapy and regard same-sex attraction as a deficiency in behavioural and cognitive development, such as weak \u200einterpersonal skills or low self-esteem. They presume that a person with same-sex attraction has not \u200eyet been able to experience positive relationships with the opposite sex due to \u200eenvironmental factors. In these centres, they direct the individuals to change their sexual \u200eorientation by encouraging them to establish relationships with the opposite sex (behavioural \u200etherapy) and attempting to treat the purportedly irrational belief of finding a person of the same-sex \u200eattractive (cognitive therapy). This group seeks to control sexual behaviour and usually pressures the patient by holding them responsible for the treatment’s failure, blaming \u200efailure on the patient\u2019s lack of willpower and claiming the patient did not want to be \u200ecured. Through this reasoning, the health-care professionals do not hold themselves accountable for their failed treatments and rid \u200ethemselves of any concern for the patient. Multiple cases have been reported to 6Rang which show that this group \u200eof medical centres also use aversion therapies such as electric shock on hands and\/or genitalia, \u200esimultaneous drug-induced nausea and presentation of stimulators related to homosexuality, and re-conditioned masturbation, in which the individual is told to picture the opposite-sex while being forced to masturbate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The third group of medical centres seeking to convert gays and lesbians, consider same-sex \u200eattraction as an indicator of a subconscious conflict or past trauma, and attempt to identify \u200ethe root cause of the \u2018problem\u2019 by using methods like hypnosis, attempting to induce \u200eopposite-sex attraction. They may also conduct a purported psychoanalysis into the individual\u2019s history \u200eof personal relations with significant men and women in their lives, such as their parents. These \u200ehealth-care professionals often cause the client a loss of time and financial resources in long \u200esessions, only to confuse the LGBTI person with some general comments and simplistic \u200einterpretations, later intensifying the individual\u2019s sense of self as a diseased person. They \u200eusually conceal their failures in reparative therapy on the sexual orientation by saying to gay clients,<\/p>\n \u200e\u201cYou need to reconstruct your relationship with your mother to be interested in women again,\u201d \u200c\u200eor to lesbian clients,<\/p>\n \u200e\u201cYou have a conflict in your relationship with your father which has caused your lack of interest \u200ein men.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Confronted with such suggestions, the clients who are severely dissatisfied with their sexual \u200eorientation usually cease any same-sex sexual behaviour for some time, but the desire and the \u200eorientation often persist. Sometimes the clients grow tired of the ongoing therapy, and to save themselves further inconveniences, express that they have been cured. The therapist interprets this this result as a success in treatment.\u200e<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The last group of medical centres practicing reparative therapy takes advantage \u200eof the client’s dissatisfaction at their own orientation and identity. Making use of the client’s religious tendencies and the \u200esense of guilt, these health-care professionals intimidate them by warning of homosexuality’s dangerous physical and \u200emental consequences, social stigma and familial rejection. The centres aim to direct clients \u200eto choose heterosexuality as the only sensible option. In this method known as \u201cspiritual therapy,\u201d the focus is on \u200epracticing prayer, piety and overcoming evil thoughts.\u200e<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shadi Amin, coordinator of 6Rang explains, \u201cour interviews with the victims show that in \u200emany cases, the psychoactive medication and other types of reparative therapies may cause \u200eloss of interest, concentration and memory loss to the extent of dropping out of education, severe \u200edepression, and increase suicidal tendencies. In other words, through therapies and social \u200epressures, individuals capable of love and a normal life are led down a destructive path.\u201d\u200e<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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