Homosexuality in DSM

Homosexuality classification had major changes in different editions of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). It started as paraphilia, then shift to sexual orientation disturbance in DSM-II, later it was classified as ego-dystonic homosexuality in DSM-III, and finally it was completely dropped out of DSM-III-R.

DSM-II

The DSM-II considered homosexuality as one form of paraphilia, but in the seventh printing of DSM-II homosexuality had shifted to another classification, which is sexual orientation disturbance. This major change had been proceeded by upcoming activities of LGBT in 1960s, specifically Stonewall riots in 1969. These activities continued in 1970 with the following predominant events:

• As described by Ronald Bayer,^[1] a psychiatrist and gay rights activist, specific protests by gay rights activists against the APA began in 1970, when the organization held its convention in San Francisco. The activists disrupted the conference by interrupting speakers and shouting down and ridiculing psychiatrists who viewed homosexuality as a mental disorder. In 1971, gay rights activist Frank Kameny worked with the Gay Liberation Front collective to demonstrate against the APA's convention. At the 1971 conference, Kameny grabbed the microphone and yelled: "Psychiatry is the enemy incarnate. Psychiatry has waged a relentless war of extermination against us. You may take this as a declaration of war against you."^[2] This activism occurred in the context of a broader anti-psychiatry movement that had come to the fore in the 1960s and was challenging the legitimacy of psychiatric diagnosis. Anti-psychiatry activists protested at the same APA conventions, with some shared slogans and intellectual foundations.^[3][4] Presented with data from researchers such as Alfred Kinsey and Evelyn Hooker, the seventh printing of the DSM-II, in 1974, no longer listed homosexuality as a category of disorder. After a vote by the APA trustees in 1973, and confirmed by the wider APA membership in 1974, the diagnosis was replaced with the category of "sexual orientation disturbance".^[5]
• 1973^[6] – On 15 October the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry Federal Council declares homosexuality not an illness – the first such body in the world to do so; in December the American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II), based largely on the research and advocacy of Evelyn Hooker.

This major change result in major situation in the psychiatry society, as some of psychiatrists referred to this change as political not scientific^[7] as the APA changed it based on VOTE^[8] not scientific evidence, there were no new scientific evidence supporting such change.

DSM-III

In DSM-III, homosexuality had been shifted to a new "Ego-dystonic homosexuality" classification.

DSM-III-R

In DSM-III-R, the new "Ego-dystonic homosexuality" classification was also removed and was largely subsumed under "sexual disorder not otherwise specified", which can include "persistent and marked distress about one's sexual orientation.^[9][10]

Further reading

• LGBT
• LGBT rights opposition
• Anti-LGBT rhetoric
• Heteronormativity

References