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| NEWS | BY KIM JANSSEN |
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Research into hospital treatment for gays since 1950 revealed that religious counselling, oestrogen therapy, psychoanalysis and behavioural aversion therapy were practised in the NHS. In some cases, patients were given portable electric shock kits to take home, so they could punish themselves whenever they had homosexual fantasies. In others, men were told to masturbate while focusing on homosexual fantasies and then switch to a heterosexual image at the point of orgasm. And some men were taught dating skills and told to find a woman to have sex with. At least one man died from side-effects of apomorphine treatment, which was used to stimulate an erection while heterosexual pornographic images were displayed on a projection screen. The report by Dr Glenn Smith and Dr Michael King, working with Dr Annie Bartlett of St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, says there was no evidence that any of the methods worked. It warns that applying medical diagnoses to human conditions that are disapproved of morally or socially is harmful. Dr Smith spoke to 29 former patients, most of whom had referred themselves for treatment out of a sense of shame, although some took the option of treatment to avoid a jail sentence. Homosexual acts were illegal until 1967. One participant in the study, who grew up in post-war Britain, said: “There were no positive role models and the newspapers were full of the most vituperative filth that made me feel suicidal. “I felt totally bewildered that my entire emotional life was being written up in the papers as utter filth and perversity.” Most former patients have never spoken to friends, partners and family about the treatment they received. Some felt it had helped them, although not in the way intended. One man said he had learned to accept his sexuality, having tried everything he could to change it, while others went on to form fulfilling same-sex relationships as social attitudes changed. But others said they still felt angry at accepting the treatment, which they say damaged their self-worth and had encouraged them to marry unwisely. A second study considered the views of 30 healthcare professionals who had administered the treatment. Many doctors felt uneasy about their work, and some admitted to a sense of shame, but a minority stood by their methods. One said: “I thought homosexuals were people who were disordered and needed treatment and psychiatric help. And I still do.” The report, published in the British Medical Journal this week, concludes: “At a time when there is considerable anxiety about government plans to manage people with so-called dangerous and severe personality disorders, this study reminds us of the risks of ignoring the association between science and society.” |
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