|
medpundit |
||
 |
 |
|
Friday, February 20, 2004In electric shock aversion therapy, electrodes were attached to the wrist or lower leg and shocks were administered while the patient watched photographs of men and women in various stages of undress. The aim was to encourage avoidance of the shock by moving to photographs of the opposite sex. It was hoped that arousal to same sex photographs would reduce, while relief arising from shock avoidance would increase, interest in opposite sex images. Some patients reported undergoing detailed examination before treatment, while others were assessed more perfunctorily. Patients would recline on a bed or sit in a chair in a darkened room, either alone or with the professional behind a screen. Each treatment lasted about 30 minutes, with some participants given portable electric shock boxes to use at home while they induced sexual fantasies. Patients receiving apomorphine were often admitted to hospital due to side effects of nausea and dehydration and the need for repeated doses, while those receiving electric shock aversion therapy attended as outpatients for weeks or in some cases up to two years. Oestrogen treatment to reduce libido (two participants in the 1950s), psychoanalysis (three private participants and one NHS participant in the 1970s), and religious counselling (two participants in the 1990s) were also reported. Other forms of treatment were electroconvulsive therapy, discussion of the evils of homosexuality, desensitisation of an assumed phobia of the opposite sex, hypnosis, psychodrama, and abreaction. Dating skills were sometimes taught, and occasionally men were encouraged to find a prostitute or female friend with whom to try sexual intercourse. They didn't succeed in converting anyone. COMMENTS: A reader comments on the significance of this treatment's failure: What has perked my interest since I prefer the company of men is the idea that the infusion, inclusion, tepid acceptance and increased presence of the "homosexual lifestyle" in the mass media and in everyday life will sway (mostly young men) to become homosexual. That premise is illogical. I (and every other homosexual) are inundated with heterosexual images, and outright blatant heterosexual lifestyles everyday. Every conscious minute of my entire life the heterosexual mantra is broadcasted. There is no escaping from it. And yet I was not swayed to become heterosexual. Those that tout the idea that the specks of the gay lifestyle (usually stereotypical images) will "tip" someone to choose to be heterosexual is ridiculous. posted by Sydney on 2/20/2004 08:01:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
|
