Gay men given electric shocks 'to cure homosexuality'

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Gay men given electric shocks 'to cure homosexuality' at QUB

Media playback is unsupported on your deviceJohn was sent for aversion therapy at the Department of Mental Health at Queen's during the 1960s"They would give me a shock and would continue giving me a shock every 15 or 30 seconds."

"When I was about 15, I realised I am one of these people who are homosexuals and who are reviled really by the society I grew up in, so it was a big shock to me.John initially spoke to his GP who, although sympathetic, arranged counselling for him at a local hospital. "I was given gutties and these were connected up with electric wires to a voltage and I would receive the shock in my feet.

"They would continue giving me a shock until I pressed the button again to say I was no longer experiencing any arousal."You would then associate any gay, homosexual feelings with something unpleasant - a conditioned reflex really."In a research paper published in the Ulster Medical Journal in 1973, academics from the departments of Mental Health, Social Studies and Psychology at QUB said their use of electrical aversion therapy was rare by that stage.

"Although they were administered free of charge on the National Health Service it's only been estimated that about 1,000 people ever received the treatment," he said. Dr Dickinson said that use of electrical aversion therapy had been almost totally abandoned by the mid-1970s in the UK.

 

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Imposed I guess, you wouldn't volunteer for this surely

Are you sure it wasn't a fetish request.

That's a good treatment for homosexuals. Nothing wrong.

I am shocked by this news ⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡

ParkinLewis let me know when u want me to wire u to the mains 😂😂😂👍😂👍 AbbyRoscoe57

Certainly never worked😳😬

Typical BBC...

Maybe it could be given to politicians to cure their stupidness!

Not to deflect from the specifics but in Belfast in 1970, ECT could easily be prescribed for anyone considered by a psychiatrist to be living 'an abnormal lifestyle'. Since Belfast was a war zone at the time, a significant proportion of the population would have qualified.

Like any other disease homosexuality is also a disease and it should be treated medically and psychotherapically , in no case it should be allowed or tolerated in civilized societies bcoz it gives rise to heinous crimes of child sexual abuse

I can never forgive a Commonwealth, saved from the Nazis by the genius of Alan Turing during WW II, but, which turned around and persecuted & prosecuted him for being gay AFTER the war. 😮 The stain & shame of Great Britain viz-a-viz LGBTQ folks can & will never be erased. 🤬

Strange. I had no idea homosexuality was a disease.

Ignorant vile creatures.

You mean they had electricity in belfast in the 60's 😂

Why does it need intervention you are who you are. I wouldn’t change anything about my gay friends. This is appalling

Adding “in the 60s” to the headline would make it more understandable

Droevig dat mensen gemarteld werden vanuit een valse overtuiging dat daarmee seksuele geaardheid kon worden veranderd. Druist in tegen wetenschap, ethiek, en acceptatie en naastenliefde.

advocaatsmeets 😡😡😥

What the fuck😳🥺😖😖😖😖😖🤯🤬🤬🤯🤬🤬🤬😡😡🤬🤯🤯🤬

That is TERRIBLE!😡

Lets see if it will cure Trumpers first.

I always wondered if this would work and why it wasn’t more widely used. I’d give it a go to stop eating junk or cut down on my drinking if it would work.

BBC News, something that was abandoned in the mid 70s brought up as news

There is a church not far from here, in which a gay man is buried, who DIED during a very brutal 'aversion therapy'. The BBC did a doco on him a while back. He was given drugs to cause a 'high' whilst being shown photos of women, and painful injections whilst being shown men.

How barbaric - I can't believe it. Thought they did this type of thing hundreds of years ago not in the 70s

Is it a anal prob shock

That electrical shocks should haven been used for pedophiles and rapists instead.

yeah and in context they used electric shock 'treatment' on the mentally ill and many others....just like in the 1950's when they thought radiation was a cure all....until it killed every one!

Stop calling it a 'treatment' it doesn't treat anything.

Being gay isn't a condition or a dieses that can be cured or changed. We are what we are if it's straight, gay or bisexual. 🤔

Think it's called ECT.

Whilst this is an awful story, it’s nearly 60 years old. How does it have a bearing on modern society?

This is outrageous but not surprising

Shocking!

That's shocking

Did it work !!!!!! Clucking idiots

Didn’t we prove around 100 years ago that electric shock ‘therapy’ doesn’t work?

Or some nutcase is using this as an excuse for some free BDSM fun?

What twaddle, this is not news. 🙄

Homosexualities is not a illness that needs a cure

Click bait title. Happened in the ‘60s.

Maybe they should see if it cures stupidity.

/ Some day All will understand Mankind = all types of Males Created as one ?

A peculiar and similar type of treatment also seen in the film Clockwork Orange. For those who underwent this type of treatment, you are owed at the very least, an apology from the institution that subjected you to this abhorrent process, I will not use the word treatment.

Demonic

Can only imagine how people felt about their homosexuality, that drove them to see out electric shock treatment as a 'cure'. Thankfully, the World is becoming much more accepting, although still has a way to go. Being gay is not an illness or against morality. LGBT

A social engineering experiment?! Don't they normally use 9mm bullets?.

Does it cure the squeezing of women’s thighs 😂

You can't cure homosexuality.

At 'Queen's' University.........oh the irony

Did it work?

Haha woiiihhhh

So, is he into women now? Please, don't leave us hanging

The important thing is, does this treatment still go on? If it doesn’t what is the point of the story. OK as magazine feature, but why is it on BBC News Twitter?

Whilst ECT May be effective when used to alleviate depression,I’m not aware of any research that points to its impact on sexual orientation.i H8 the word ‘CURE’. As if it’s a disease or illness.When will certain areas of society realise castration or faith etc will not help?

May be he was acting a bit c-Amp.

good job the united kingdom turned its back on religion and advanced or we'd still be in the same situation

I have a question I wonder if anyone can answer: If sexuality is determined from birth, how is it that gender is fluid?

Shocking behaviour.

Good read

Did it work?

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