Did the American Psychological and Psychatric associations remove homosexuality from their list of disorders?

Question

Solely due to political pressure as many anti-gay groups claim? Was there any scientific evidence that homosexuality is not a mental illness, or was the APA forced to change it due to political pressure? Do most psychologists in the US today think it's not a mental illness?

Answer 1

yes it was removed about 30 years ago. no, it's not a mental illness, that's why they removed it. no it wasn't because of pressure, it was because of hard facts it is normal for some people to be Gay

Answer 2

Yes and No.

The Gay liberation movement did have a role in instigating changes in how the APA viewed homosexuality, but this was in 1973 when they didn't have near enough power to put "pressure" on anyone. Most psychiatrist in the US today do not consider homosexuality an illness.

The classification of homosexuality as in illness in the first place was based on social pressures. Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, considered "polymorphous perversity", not heterosexuality, to be the natural sexual orientation which people were born with, a series of incestuous psychological traumas and anxieties collectively known as the Oedipus complex was believed to turn people into heterosexuals, or occasionally homosexuals. Favoring heterosexuality over homosexuality was a matter of convenience because it was easier for the individual, not because one was healthy and the other sick.

Answer 3

No, it wasn't from pressure due to the Friends of Judy, the Pink Panthers or any other "in your face" gay-rights activists groups from the early seventies. Psychologists looked at the evidence and finally decided to remove homosexuality from their list of mental diseases because there was no evidence to prove gays are going to change your children, take over the government, ruin the military, or otherwise destroy the American way of life.

Answer 4

The only reason it was ever considered a mental illness was because of Freud and Kraft-Ebbing, both of whom based their definition of "normal" on themselves. Anyone with a sexual preference other than theirs was, by that standard, sick. The American Psychological Association acknowledged this as unscientific and removed homosexuality as a disorder in 1974, the Psychiatric Association followed suit in 1975. They both did the same for BDSM in the late '80s, and for the same reason. Doubtless many doctors of a strong fundamentalist faith continue to call it an illness, since they can't use "sin" as a medically diagnoses.

Answer 5

In the mid seventies the psychiatrists officially stopped describing gayness as a mental disorder. It had been recognized for some time that most gays could function well in society. But the politics of the sixties kept it on the books till the gay lib movement started raising hell.

Answer 6

The constant disruption of meeting by gay activists shouting down participants eventually resulted in the move by the APA to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. Which is very unprofessional, this behaviour should have been seen as proof that it was indeed a disorder.Many psychologists and Psychiatrists still view it as a mental disorder and some still treat it as such.

Answer 7

Yes back in 1973 they removed it because its not a disorder or mental illness...Im pretty sure there is no pyschologists in the US today that think Homosexuality is a disorder or mental illness because its been studied for years and its not. take a look here http://www.apahelpcenter.org/articles/article.php?id=31 This may help you better...hope that helped

Answer 8

It was taken off the list 'cause it's not an illness, and the only pressure "political" or otherwise was from the christian right. Similar to Galileo when he said the earth revolved around the sum the church arrested him. I just hope we don't have to deal with closed minded people like you for as long as the church took to clear Galileo..

Answer 9

No, they studied the evidence, as most scientists do. There is no question among those tens of thousands of scientists.

Of course respected doctors know being LGBT is not an "illness," but an inborn orientation.

Answer 10

I am Pretty Sure they dumped that theory. Its not a disorder. Just like saying being straight is a disorder or even a different nationality.. ha ha ha.. So Absurd!!