Should we go back to viewing homosexuality as a mental disorder?

[rlg94086]

You also missed this.

3.) Gay/Lesbian parents who use sperm/surrogate wombs, may seek in vitro treatment to MAKE the child gay.

I don’t know what happened to it, but I recall a case where a deaf couple wanted to intentionally make their child deaf too in the womb.

Thanks…you are correct. If it is possible, some people would do it. I’m not sure what the availability/status is of other such science, but I know I have read about people potentially being able to choose their child’s sex, eye color, etc. I’m not usually an alarmist when it comes to scientific “progress” and new technology, but this stuff, along with cloning, is really disconcerting.

 

[estesbob]

You also missed this.

3.) Gay/Lesbian parents who use sperm/surrogate wombs, may seek in vitro treatment to MAKE the child gay.

I don’t know what happened to it, but I recall a case where a deaf couple wanted to intentionally make their child deaf too in the womb.

They had a deaf child.

 

[pathia]

They had a deaf child.

I have to wonder what the kid will think of that once they’ve grown up.

I have much resentment towards the doctors that did things to me, and the doctors that put mom on the medicines during her pregnancy that likely complicated matters even more in my own personal case.

I won’t say I hate them, but I don’t know if I could ever forgive, or forget.

 

[Joe_5859]

I get why many are voting “No” in this poll because they do not want to see homosexuals treated with disrespect or as “insane” people. That is certainly a worthwhile goal.

That said, I would just add a few things to consider.

First, it is not true that every disorder in the DSM-IV is something that is so debilitating as to make someone certifiable. It also includes things like learning disorders that many people have and lead perfectly normal lives. So simply because something appears in the book doesn’t necessarily mean that such a group would be considered “insane”.

Second, practically speaking, one of the great drawbacks that resulted from the removal of SSA from the list of mental disorders is that those who suffer from SSA and want help overcoming it have a difficult time finding someone to help them. If you go to a therapist or psychologist looking for help, they’ll just tell you that nothing is wrong with you. It puts those who genuinely want to follow Church teaching in a difficult spot.

Of course, in this current moment in history, there is no way that it would get added back to the list. No one would stand for it. For the purposes of diagnosis, it doesn’t seem particularly necessary. We all know what SSA is, and those who have it generally know they have it (unlike certain learning disabilities). Like I said above, the main drawback I see is that people who want help have a much more difficult time finding it.

I didn’t vote in the poll, though. I know the negative results of taking it off the list, but I’m not convinced that adding it back would fix those problems. In fact, it could make things worse.

 

[estesbob]

I have to wonder what the kid will think of that once they’ve grown up.

I have much resentment towards the doctors that did things to me, and the doctors that put mom on the medicines during her pregnancy that likely complicated matters even more in my own personal case.

I won’t say I hate them, but I don’t know if I could ever forgive, or forget.

It was one of the most selfish acts imaginable and the dr who helped them do this should have his license yanked.

 

[estesbob]

would be considered “insane”.

Second, practically speaking, one of the great drawbacks that resulted from the removal of SSA from the list of mental disorders is that those who suffer from SSA and want help overcoming it have a difficult time finding someone to help them. If you go to a therapist or psychologist looking for help, they’ll just tell you that nothing is wrong with you. It puts those who genuinely want to follow Church teaching in a difficult spot.

It worst than that. The homosexual “rights” community wants to have trying to help a homosexual overcome their disorder declared as medical malpractice.

 

[pathia]

It was one of the most selfish acts imaginable and the dr who helped them do this should have his license yanked.

It was the status quo for how to do things then. It still is in most cases, but the tide is turning finally.

It wasn’t always this way, the surgery stuff wasn’t done until the 1950’s and 60’s, where it was decided that we were better than nature/God and could fix the ‘mistakes’.

Before then they just let us be, if they were so worried about ‘socialization problems’. What did we do for the thousands of years before we had surgeons? I’ve never understood that part.

 

[Eric_Olsen]

Politics are what made the definition change in the 70’s.
I believe it was after the stonewall riots, psychologists were forced to change their definition.

Should the mental health officials and the general population go back to viewing homosexuality as a mental disorder? Yes or no? Please vote in my poll.

 

[pathia]

It worst than that. The homosexual “rights” community wants to have trying to help a homosexual overcome their disorder declared as medical malpractice.

I haven’t seen that called for, even in my activist circles that I run with. They just want it clearly labeled as experimental, they also don’t want it forced on kids.

I was forced into it, it took me nearly a decade to recover. I was depressed beforehand, but the therapy to ‘cure’ me led to several suicide attempts. I was treated by members of NARTH, so it wasn’t like they were nobodies.

For a kid/teenager, the jump from ‘Pray hard to god to fix you!’ after the prayers are never answered, to ‘God must hate me, I want to die’ is very easy.

The levels of pressure and mental abuse were absurd. To this day I get anxious just by seeing the color pink of all things, because I was told that pink is bad.

 

[estesbob]

Politics are what made the definition change in the 70’s.
I believe it was after the stonewall riots, psychologists were forced to change their definition.

There was no study that caused them to remove it from the list. it was the result of a plurality of members present at a 1972 convention.

 

[Eric_Olsen]

There was no study that caused them to remove it from the list. it was the result of a plurality of members present at a 1972 convention.

thats what I meant to say. There was no study but pressure to make them take it off the list.

 

[estesbob]

I haven’t seen that called for, even in my activist circles that I run with. They just want it clearly labeled as experimental, they also don’t want it forced on kids.

I was forced into it, it took me nearly a decade to recover. I was depressed beforehand, but the therapy to ‘cure’ me led to several suicide attempts. I was treated by members of NARTH, so it wasn’t like they were nobodies.

For a kid/teenager, the jump from ‘Pray hard to god to fix you!’ after the prayers are never answered, to ‘God must hate me, I want to die’ is very easy.

The levels of pressure and mental abuse were absurd. To this day I get anxious just by seeing the color pink of all things, because I was told that pink is bad.

I am sorry to hear what they put you through.

I have been down the God hates me route myself. I was a raging alchoholic and was sure that God hated me as much as I hated myself. One Sunday the Priest said that there was nothing we could do that could make God love us any more and likewise there was nothng we could do that would make God love us any less. So the question popped into my mind "if God loves why cant I love myself? I joined AA the following Tuesday-22 years ago.

 

[estesbob]

thats what I meant to say. There was no study but pressure to make them take it off the list.

To be honest, however, there was no study that caused them to put it on the list in the first place. I think the Church states it best-it doesnt matter.

 

[pathia]

I am sorry to hear what they put you through.

I have been down the God hates me route myself. I was a raging alchoholic and was sure that God hated me as much as I hated myself. One Sunday the Priest said that there was nothing we could do that could make God love us any more and likewise there was nothng we could do that would make God love us any less. So the question popped into my mind "if God loves why cant I love myself? I joined AA the following Tuesday-22 years ago.

I thank you for sharing that story, my father struggles with it too, I’ve never been a fan on alcohol out of sheer fear that I could end up with yet another weight on my shoulders.

I had to run away and live on my own for a few years before I could really love myself. I was told everything I believed was a lie, a sin, that everything I was doing was wrong and would send me to hell. I just had to find my own path, and I’m still recovering.

It just bothers me, what kind of therapist tells an eight year old they are going to hell, or that if I committed suicide it would be better than if I ‘continued down my path’? They got their wish, I tried to hang myself with a belt from my bunk bed that same year. Silly I know, but I was eight

They’re out there, many of them. That is who the activists want disbarred and disallowed from practicing.

 

[Annn]

You also missed this.

3.) Gay/Lesbian parents who use sperm/surrogate wombs, may seek in vitro treatment to MAKE the child gay.

Hey pathia, I think I disagree with this. Being gay’s really rough; I don’t believe in abortion so would not abort a gay baby, but I definitely wouldn’t wish the discrimination on anyone!

 

[gochrist9436]

Well yes I think it should. It’s a disorder of the reproductive system. But that doesn’t mean we should discrimanate against them. We don’t do that to people with ADD or Autism, do we

 

[Kolbe300]

The cause doen’t change the fact that it is a disordered desire any more than the causes of blindness and deafness change the fact blindness and deafness are not the normal state of eyes and ears.

I agree with you. The cause would not be a factor that changed whether or not homosexual behavior would be accepted. You bring up the blindness and deafness points, again I agree. That being said, you can imagine the answer you’d get if you asked someone who has been blind since birth what the normal or “true” state of his eyes are. Try telling that person that the “true” state of his eyes is vision.

The sad thing to me is not only are those of us with SSA dealt a heavy cross in terms of living a chaste life for much longer than most, we also have the cross of the “well meaning” who wish to label us and consider us sinful, insane or disordered in our very existence-whether or not we actually commit the sin.

Very well said. Sometimes celibacy is actually the easy part!

Well said, Fitswimmer. I am always heartened by Catholics like yourself who “get it” and are doing their best to live a chaste life. It seems apparent that many Catholics don’t realize that no one’s desire for sexual sin (fornication, masturbation, adultery, sodomy) is any different than SSA. Depending on how we entertain those thoughts/desires, we are all capable of venial or mortal sin, even without committing the physical acts.

With regards to the bold sentence, you are very right. What I think many people don’t realize is that for the people who have only known SSA, there isn’t a “sinless” sexual desire they can fall back on. I’m not homosexual sometimes. It isn’t some obscure desire that pops it’s head up every once in a while. Unlike a heterosexual dealing with sinful desires, a homosexual has no healthy outlet or alternative. In that sense, the struggle can be very different.

IOne Sunday the Priest said that there was nothing we could do that could make God love us any more and likewise there was nothng we could do that would make God love us any less. So the question popped into my mind "if God loves why cant I love myself? I joined AA the following Tuesday-22 years ago.

I love what you had to say there estesbob. Thank you for that and God bless you for having the courage to take that first step.

Peace!

 

[catholicbuckeye]

Should the mental health officials and the general population go back to viewing homosexuality as a mental disorder? Yes or no? Please vote in my poll.

Mental disorder? Dunno. Deviant behavior? Absolutely. By definition it is a behavior that deviates from the norm. What should that mean practically speaking? Dunno!

 

[catholicbuckeye]

Hey pathia, I think I disagree with this. Being gay’s really rough; I don’t believe in abortion so would not abort a gay baby, but I definitely wouldn’t wish the discrimination on anyone!

Interesting to tie abortion in. I believe it was Rush Limbaugh who said that if science is ever able to determine the sexual predisposition of the baby in the womb, the most Pro-Life group of people in the country will be the homosexual community. Cynical but I see the point. Believe me I would never support abortion of any child, straight, gay or otherwise! But you see cultures where males are favored over females and abortions of female babies is very high…makes you sad