---
title: "Conversion therapy"
chunk: 5/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_therapy"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:31:09.241296+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== Effects and evaluation ==
There is a scientific consensus that conversion therapy is ineffective at changing a person's sexual orientation.
Conversion therapy can cause significant, long-term psychological harm. This includes significantly higher rates of depression, substance abuse, and other mental health issues in individuals who have undergone conversion therapy than their peers who did not, including a suicide attempt rate nearly twice that of those who did not. 
After conversion therapy has failed to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity, participants often feel increased shame that they already felt over their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Modern-day practitioners of conversion therapy—primarily from a conservative religious viewpoint—disagree with evidence-based medicine and clinical guidance that does not view homosexuality and gender variance as unnatural or unhealthy. Advocates of conversion therapy rely heavily on testimonials and retrospective self-reports as evidence of effectiveness. Studies purporting to validate the effectiveness of efforts to change sexual orientation or gender identity have been criticized for methodological flaws.
According to Bailey et al., claims of successful conversion therapy rely upon self reports of success, however these are unreliable and lack objective evidence, and participants in conversion therapy "may be especially susceptible to believing and reporting that therapy has succeeded regardless of its true effectiveness". According to Bailey et al. measures of men's genital arousal patterns could provide relevant evidence to the efficacy of conversion therapy, however existing studies have not supported its effectiveness. For example, a study by Kurt Freund used penile phallometric testing and found that clients’ reported changes in sexual orientation were not supported; and research by Conrad and Wincze (1976) showed that arousal measurements also failed to support claims of success. According to Bailey, although individuals may choose not to act upon their sexual attractions, "there is no good evidence, however, that sexual orientation can be changed with therapy".
In 2020, ILGA World published a world survey and report Curbing Deception listing consequences and life-threatening effects by associating specific public testimonies with different types of methods used to practice conversion therapies.
A 2022 study estimated that conversion therapy of youth in the United States cost $650.16 million annually with an additional $9.5 billion in associated costs such as increased suicide and substance abuse. Youth who undergo conversion therapy from a religious provider have more negative mental health outcomes than those who had consulted a licensed healthcare provider.
A 2022 research by Outright International found out that half the respondents surveyed from Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa had undergone some form of conversion practice. Some of the forms including force and coercion, which inflict severe physical and mental pain and suffering.

== Legal status ==

Some jurisdictions have criminal bans on the practice of conversion therapy, including Canada, Ecuador, France, Germany, Malta, Mexico and Spain. In other countries, including Albania, Brazil, Chile, Vietnam and Taiwan, medical professionals are barred from practicing conversion therapy.
In some states, lawsuits against conversion therapy providers for fraud have succeeded, but in other jurisdictions those claiming fraud must prove that the perpetrator was intentionally dishonest. Thus, a provider who genuinely believes conversion therapy is effective could not be convicted.
Conversion therapy on minors may amount to child abuse.

=== Human rights ===
In 2020, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims released an official statement that conversion therapy is torture. The same year, UN Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, said that conversion therapy practices are "inherently discriminatory, that they are cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and that depending on the severity or physical or mental pain and suffering inflicted to the victim, they may amount to torture". He recommended that it should be banned across the world. In 2021, Ilias Trispiotis and Craig Purshouse argue that conversion therapy violates the prohibition against degrading treatment under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, leading to a state obligation to prohibit it. In February 2023 Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, qualified those practices as "irreconcilable with several guarantees under the European Convention on Human Rights" and having no place in a human rights-based society urging the Member States of the Council of Europe to ban them for both adults and minors, later in July 2023 she advocated for clear actions during a public hearing at the European Parliament studying different approaches to legally ban "conversion therapies" in the European Union. In September 2024 it was reported that the European Union is considering banning "conversion therapies" across its Member States, while a European Citizens' Initiative that started collecting signatures in May 2024 is also calling on the European Commission to outlaw such practices.

== In media ==
Efforts to change sexual orientation have been depicted and discussed in popular culture and various media. Some examples include: Boy Erased, But I'm a Cheerleader, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Book of Mormon musical, Ratched, and the documentary features Pray Away and Homotherapy: A Religious Sickness.

== Medical views ==