Gabriel Arana's Article: My So Called Ex-Gay Life

When Therapy Contradicts itself Conversion therapy (also known as reparative therapy) used to “fix” people who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender (LGBT). This is a cruel therapy that was called reparative therapy in the early 20th century because it was said to repair the indivual in order to fit the norms of society. Electroshock therapy was the most popular form of conversion therapy because it was believed to give consequences of pain for actions that were “abnormal.” Most gay men are aroused by naked pictures of men, and therefore are likely to masturbate to them. Conversion therapists claim that these these men should be shocked in their genital areas, because that is an “inappropriate” way of reacting to those images. Electroshock therapy has been banned in the United States; however, there are still many cruel forms of conversion therapy that are being used today. Conversion therapy is an ineffective form of therapy as it damages people’s emotional physcee, physically harms people through violent measures, and through statistics has been proven not to work.
One result of conversion therapy is the psychological damages that it has on its patients. Gabriel Arana underwent conversion therapy at the age of 17. In his article “My So Called Ex-Gay Life,” Arana …show more content…
He tried to convince himself that that he was straight however; the feelings of same-sex attraction did not elude him. Arana did not experience a lot of trauma with conversion therapy, but there have been many patients who have. Conversion therapy can lead youth to think that there is something wrong with them and it can also lead them down a path of suicide. LGBT youth are eight more times likely to attempt suicide then their heterosexual peers. Conversion therapy has been shown to increase suicide numbers among the LGBT community to an even higher