Conversation therapy

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Does it work? Can someone be talked out of being gay? I don't think so.

Conversion or Conversation?

Conversation. Conversion therapy is different. Some people think they can talk someone out of being gay.

Conversation therapy is for aphasia though, like say after someone suffers a stroke. It's meant to rebuild their ability to engage in conversations.

Conversion therapy is what some queer people are subjected to.

If you try to do a search for conversation therapy you need to search for conversation therapy -conversion otherwise everything will be about conversion therapy instead.

Unless there's something I've missed; if you can find a source discussing conversation therapy being used like you describe, please post it.

I don't believe it works and those who claim it works are probably living in denial due to the trauma they got subjected to.

It's like talking someone out of autism.

Though it may work on men who are actually bisexual.

We have a joker in the room.

There is something called "Conversion Therapy", and there is the term "talk therapy".

Talk therapy is just the generic colloquial term for any kind of therapy given by a qualified therapist to a patient for any psychiatric issue via "conversation", or "talk", as opposed to using drugs, or using shock therapy, or like that. And some folks get all of the above (shock, meds, and talk).

"Conversion Therapy" is a specific program that aims to cure homosexuals of homosexuality via education, and 'conversation' and pressure, and rewards and punishments and etc. Usually lotsa religious counseling. But basically it IS trying to "talk someone out of being homosexual".

But it is called "ConVERSION Therapy", and not "ConverSATION Therapy".

You picked the wrong word for the title of your thread.

Last edited by naturalplastic on 27 Feb 2023, 5:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Sounds kinda like those re-education camps I heard about over in China.

^ Basically a Christian version of that. Considered to be a "pseudoscienc" by the medical community.

https://youtu.be/GPII9cfFe34

There are some idiots who think you can 'pray the gay away' so it's not much of a stretch to think 'talk the gay away' is also believed by imbeciles.

I'm gonna make this conversation more complicated
There is a form of OCD that causes people to majorly question or doubt their sexuality. Some people may think that they are gay or some other sexuality or gender variation at times when then are really not. Treating the OCD can potentially help stop the person from getting confused & caught up in a loop worrying about it. I've experienced a form of that myself & as a result I majorly questioned my sexuality & gender identity. I've experienced OCD in lots of various unrelated ways as well. Treating my OCD with a med helped stop me from worrying & questioning my sexuality & gender orientation. I posted about my confusion a lot on WP like 12-14 years ago but I seldom mention it nowadays due to me no longer worrying & the med helps with that. Talk Therapy is one of the main treatments for OCD thou. I'd imagine that if someone has that form of OCD, talk therapy could potentially help their OCD & it might appear like talk & conversion therapy stopped the person from being gay when in reality the person was not gay & just thought they were.

That said, I do not believe that talk or conversion therapy stops actual gay people from being gay. They may quit acting gay & having gay relationships & sex partners but it is a form of masking. It's like how some autistics learn to make eye contact & not stim in public despite them still majorly disliking eye contact & still having the urge to stim.

Ultimately conversion therapy is flawed because it based on the assumption that gay people are straight people who became gay. Which suggests that homosexuality is a learned behaviour that can be unlearned akin to overcoming a fear. It is common in conversion therapy settings to avoid using terms like gay or bisexual; instead opting to describe it as the acronym SSA (same sex attraction).

So we're left with a hypothesis: This person isn't gay, they're a straight person suffering from SSA

What causes SSA you may ask? Excellent question. Whatever reason the therapist says. You didn't get on with your mother when you were growing up? That's the reason. Not a fan of your dad? Oh wait, I changed my mind, that's why you're gay. Did you grow up in a loving household and your parents were great? No they weren't. You're clearly so traumatised that you're in denial.

If we were to take a scientific approach, then we would create a hypothesis based on observation and adapt it as we learn. We would study and peer review. However, that's not the case with conversion therapy. It starts out with a hypothesis and forces external information to fit into it, even if the information does not support the concept.

Aside from lacking in any scientific approach, there is also no concrete way to tell that the therapy was successful aside from the patient's word. Of course, a patient has plenty of reasons to lie. If the only way to escape the sessions is to say 'hey doc, I'm suddenly straight, can I go now?' then you're going to have an unreliable sample.

I could sit here and say 'the reason this person is gay is because they sat on a horse when they were ten'. Did this hypothetical person sit on a horse? Yes. Are they also gay? Boom. There you have it. Yeah, it sounds foolish (because it is). My point being that correlation does not always equal causation. The fact that they sat on a horse is irrelevant to their homosexuality. Yet someone might try to argue that because I can't prove the horse isn't relevant, that it is a valid possible reason.

Personally if someone sat me down and tried to talk the gay out of me, I'd absolutely take the mickey. Unfortunately, many who find themselves in conversion therapy lack that self assurance (and conversion therapy isn't always just talk...electroshock comes to mind. I've heard some disturbing stories). Depression, self esteem issues and high suicide rates are the grim reality of this so-called therapy which isn't therapy at all. It's abuse.