'Doctor Shock' Charged with Sexually Abusing Male Patient
THE GUARDIAN: Canadian police investigate dozens of allegations against psychiatrist nicknamed for use of electricity to 'cure' gay soldiers

A leading Canadian psychiatrist who kept accusations of gross human rights abuses in apartheid-era South Africa hidden has been charged in Calgary with sexually abusing a male patient and is being investigated over dozens of other allegations.

Dr Aubrey Levin, who in South Africa was known as Dr Shock for his use of electricity to "cure" gay military conscripts, was arrested after a patient secretly filmed the psychiatrist allegedly making sexual advances. Levin, who worked at the University of Calgary's medical school, has been suspended from practising and is free on bail of C$50,000 (£32,000) on charges of repeatedly indecently assaulting a 36-year-old man.

The police say they are investigating similar claims by nearly 30 other patients. The Alberta justice department is reviewing scores of criminal convictions in which Levin was a prosecution witness.

Levin has worked in Canada for 15 years since leaving South Africa, where he was chief psychiatrist in the apartheid-era military and became notorious for using electric shocks to "cure" gay white conscripts. He also held conscientious objectors against their will at a military hospital because they were "disturbed" and subjected them to powerful drug regimens.

South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard that Levin was guilty of "gross human rights abuses" including chemical castration of gay men. But after arriving in Canada in 1995 he managed to suppress public discussion of his past by threatening lawsuits against news organisations that attempted to explore it.

Following the arrest, other male patients have contacted the authorities. One, who was not identified, told CTV in Canada that he had gone to Levin for help with a gambling addiction and alleged he had been questioned about his sex life and subject to sexual advances. >>> Chris McGreal in Washington | Sunday, March 28, 2010

Gays 'Offered Help to Be Straight'
YAHOO! NEWS (UK & IRELAND): A significant number of psychiatrists and therapists are trying to help lesbian or gay patients become heterosexual, according to research.

This is despite a lack of evidence that such treatments can be beneficial or even safe, the study in the journal BMC Psychiatry said.

The research found that one in six of the 1,400 mental health professionals surveyed reported having helped at least one patient curtail their gay, lesbian or bisexual feelings.

One in 25 psychiatrists or therapists said they would try to treat someone who was having such emotions if asked today.

Professor Michael King, from University College London, who worked on the study, said: "There is very little evidence to show that attempting to treat a person's homosexual feelings is effective and, in fact, it can actually be harmful. So it is surprising that a significant minority of practitioners still offer this help to their clients."

One anonymous professional who took part in the study said they would help a patient if they held a religious belief that forbade homosexuality. Another said: "The individuals I have worked with have all been very unhappy about their sexuality and wish they were heterosexual."

Professor King now wants to raise awareness amongst those trying to treat homosexuality.

He added: "The best approach is to help people adjust to their situation, to value them as people and show them that there is nothing whatever pathological about their sexual orientation. Both mental health practitioners and society at large must help them to confront prejudice in themselves and in others." >>> Press Association | Thursday, March 26, 2009

THE INDEPENDENT: One in Six Psychiatrists Has Tried to 'Turn Gays Straight'

Therapists admit using harmful practices to 'cure' homosexuals despite evidence they do not work

Gay Pride flag thanks to Google Images
Psychotherapists are offering to help "cure" gays and lesbians of their homosexuality without any evidence that such treatment is beneficial or safe. One in six said they had tried to turn gays straight, or reduce their gay or lesbian feelings, even though the mainstream medical view is that this is impossible.

The idea that homosexuality can be cured has a long and dubious history and the disclosure that a significant minority of therapists and doctors still think it is possible is "worrying", Professor Michael King, of the University College Medical School, said. "Heaven knows what they do. We didn't attempt to ask them because there is no evidence that anything works. We didn't expect it to be happening at this rate and we are really rather concerned. It ought to stop. It is distressing and harmful and there is absolutely no evidence it works," he said.

A study of more than 1,400 psychiatrists and therapists in BMC Psychiatry found that 222 (17 per cent) said they had treated at least one client to alter their homosexual feelings at some point. The researchers expected the cases to be concentrated in the past, but the 400 to 500 cases recorded were distributed evenly across the decades. "It is happening up to the present moment," Professor King said. It might only be the "tip of the iceberg".

Many therapists seemed uncomfortable with giving treatment, or admitting to it. When asked if they would attempt to change someone's sexual orientation if requested, only one in 25 (4 per cent) said they would – far fewer than the one in six who reported actually doing so. Pressure from clients demanding help because of bullying or discrimination or family pressures may have pushed the therapists into delivering it, the professor said.

The idea that homosexuality is an aberration from the norm which can be "corrected", rather than a natural state, was current for most of the last century. Everyone was thought to be basically heterosexual and homosexuality was regarded as a deviation from the norm, the result of "faulty learning" in childhood.

During the 1950s and 1960s, when belief in psychological behaviourism was at its height, aversion therapy was used to "cure" homosexuals. Male patients were given a slide show which included pictures of sexually attractive men and women and a lever that allowed them to change the slides. If they lingered too long over the pictures of the men, and did not move on swiftly enough to the pictures of the women, they received an electric shock. A variation of this treatment involved a drug that would make them vomit.

Aversion therapy, famously employed in Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange to cure Alex, the leader of the Droogs gang, of his obsession with violence, was used up to the 1980s, but has since been discredited.

Other treatments included advice to masturbate to a homosexual fantasy and then switch to a heterosexual one near orgasm. Covert sensitisation was a method which required patients to counter homosexual thoughts with shameful fantasies of arrest by the police or discovery by their family. Hypnotherapy and psychoanalysis were also used. >>> By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor | Thursday, March 26, 2009