What is aversion therapy?
Aversion therapy pairs an ‘unwanted’ behaviour with discomfort to make it less likely because the behaviour is associated with unpleasant stimuli. The idea is to create a negative response to the behaviour so that the person avoids it in the future.
It has been used to treat unwanted behaviours such as alcohol misuse and smoking. Aversion therapy is rarely used these days and is considered outdated in most settings and it can be harmful.
Historically, aversion therapy has been used in situations which are now regarded as unethical and harmful. Expressions of sexuality and gender that diverged from heterosexual and cisgender norms have often been pathologised. Society frequently stigmatised and, at times, criminalised these identities, while healthcare and psychological professionals classified them as deviant or symptomatic of mental illness.
As a result, some clinicians tried to change people’s sexuality or gender expression to fit the social norms of the time. This was based on the belief that certain sexual orientations or gender identities were less acceptable or inferior, leading to efforts to suppress or “correct” them—commonly known as conversion therapy.
Aversion therapy was particularly used with the aim of suppressing same-sex attraction by pairing it with unpleasant stimuli—such as electric shocks, nausea-inducing drugs, or disturbing imagery. The goal was to ‘condition’ individuals to associate their sexual feelings with discomfort or fear.
Many professionals believed these interventions would improve the lives of people they treated with it, although some opposed the use of harsh methods like aversion therapy even back then.
Changes happened over the years, partly due to challenges and campaigning by those minoritised communities, changes in the law and changes in social norms and understanding of sexualities, gender identities and expression – and due to increasing clinical evidence that such interventions do not work and can cause harm.
Why are we making a statement now?
Aversion therapy in such a context is now widely condemned and considered unethical. Many countries have banned conversion therapy altogether, though some forms still persist in unregulated or faith-based settings.
BABCP is one of many psychological therapy and health care organisations that are signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU2) on conversion therapy, which makes it clear that conversion therapy in relation to gender identity and sexual orientation (including asexuality) is unethical, potentially harmful and is not supported by evidence.
BABCP fully acknowledges that using aversion therapy or any techniques to attempt to change someone’s sexuality, gender identity or expression is abusive. We understand that people were stigmatised, suffered and were harmed in the name of treatment. We sincerely regret historical practices and research, systemic failings and individual actions which led to these harms. As mentioned, same-sex attraction and gender expression outside social norms and context at the time led to labelling these as ‘deviant’ or symptoms of mental illness. This does not excuse the impact on people who received these interventions and indeed exacerbated the stigmatisation of them. We are committed to ensuring that our values, mission, policies and culture as an organisation protect the public and support our members, to prevent similar abuses occurring in future. Using any form of intervention with the aim of ‘conversion’ therapy is in breach of our Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics.
