Well, it took a while, the the American Psychoanalytic Association has finally 'fessed up:
I'm not going to go all professionally offended on this and bitch about "empty gestures," first because it's not empty -- for an organization like the APA to admit it screwed up is significant -- but also because apologies do help.
What annoys me most about that whole period in the annals of psychology (and make no mistake -- the American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association -- the APAs -- were right on board with the "mental illness" thing) is that Evelyn Hooker had been doing studies in the 1950s that clearly showed that gay men who were not in therapy were as well-adjusted as anyone else. There was, however, a contingent of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, most notably Charles Socarides, whose livelihood depended on the "mental illness" diagnosis. (Ironically, Socarides' son is gay.) It took overt political action by gay psychologists and activists to get the associations to even think about it.
But at least they're admitting they were wrong.
Via Joe.My.God.
The American Psychoanalytic Association apologized on Friday for previously labeling homosexuality a mental illness.
“It is long past time to recognize and apologize for our role in the discrimination and trauma caused by our profession,” Lee Jaffe, the group’s president, said in a statement. “We all know that hearing the words ‘we are sorry’ is important to healing past trauma.”
The American Psychoanalytic Association is using this month's 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn uprising to apologize for having treated homosexuality as a mental illness in the past. pic.twitter.com/fZWEC7aJUm
— CBC News Alerts (@CBCAlerts) June 21, 2019
I'm not going to go all professionally offended on this and bitch about "empty gestures," first because it's not empty -- for an organization like the APA to admit it screwed up is significant -- but also because apologies do help.
What annoys me most about that whole period in the annals of psychology (and make no mistake -- the American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association -- the APAs -- were right on board with the "mental illness" thing) is that Evelyn Hooker had been doing studies in the 1950s that clearly showed that gay men who were not in therapy were as well-adjusted as anyone else. There was, however, a contingent of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, most notably Charles Socarides, whose livelihood depended on the "mental illness" diagnosis. (Ironically, Socarides' son is gay.) It took overt political action by gay psychologists and activists to get the associations to even think about it.
But at least they're admitting they were wrong.
Via Joe.My.God.
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