Abstract
This article presents the findings of a study about the history of aversion therapy as a treatment technique in the English mental health system to convert lesbians and bisexual women into heterosexual women. We explored published psychiatric and psychological literature, as well as lesbian, gay, and bisexual archives and anthologies. We identified 10 examples of young women receiving aversion therapy in England in the 1960s and 1970s. We situate our discussion within the context of post-war British and transnational medical history. As a contribution to a significantly under-researched area, this article adds to a broader transnational history of the psychological treatment of marginalised sexualities and genders. As a consequence, it also contributes to LGBTQIA+ history, the history of medicine, and psychiatric survivor history. We also reflect on the ethical implications of the research for current mental health practice.
Highlights
This article is an output from our research project about the ‘treatment’ of female homosexuality in the English mental health system in the post-war period, when homosexuality
We found references in the psychiatric literature to four women being subjected to anticipatory avoidance therapy at Crumpsall Hospital in North Manchester in the mid to late 1960s (Feldman and MacCulloch, 1964; MacCulloch and Feldman, 1967). This technique was a revision of the classic aversion therapy treatment, which was developed by behavioural psychologists Feldman and MacCulloch to treat male and female homosexuality (MacCulloch, Birtles, and Feldman, 1971)
It would be difficult to find examples of psychoanalytic treatment, because sessions are often conducted over many years and in private practice and, by definition, rarely have clearly defined treatment outcomes, unlike behaviourism. It seems that aversion therapy was an experimental treatment, rather than a mainstream service response to homosexuality, especially female homosexuality, in England
Summary
This article is an output from our research project about the ‘treatment’ of female homosexuality in the English mental health system in the post-war period, when homosexuality. We found references in the psychiatric literature to four women being subjected to anticipatory avoidance therapy at Crumpsall Hospital in North Manchester in the mid to late 1960s (Feldman and MacCulloch, 1964; MacCulloch and Feldman, 1967) This technique was a revision of the classic aversion therapy treatment, which was developed by behavioural psychologists Feldman and MacCulloch to treat male and female homosexuality (MacCulloch, Birtles, and Feldman, 1971). In this procedure, patients could ‘choose’ to not receive the electric shock if they pressed a button to remove the sexualised female image, within a certain time limit, and replace it with a male image (or vice versa, depending on whether they were treating men or women). Whilst we were not able to verify this example, research and anecdotal evidence confirms that aversion therapy did cause gay people considerable distress (see e.g. d’Silva, 1996)
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