A woman in Michigan found out that her doctor diagnosed her with “ego-dystonic lesbianism” at a recent appointment. Ego-dystonic homosexuality is an outdated diagnosis that reflects “a desire to change one’s orientation” that medical organizations like the American Psychological Association have opposed for decades.
“I don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” Tatiana Arena-Villareal told Fox 2 News after she saw the diagnosis on her chart. “I don’t want anybody to have a diagnosis in their chart that suggests they have a mental illness because of who they love.”
The diagnosis was added to the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) in 1980. It doesn’t say that being gay or bi itself is a disorder, but that “having a sexual orientation or an attraction that is at odds with one’s idealized self-image” is. It’s characterized by anxiety and “a desire to change one’s orientation or become more comfortable with one’s sexual orientation.” It was removed in 1987.
Continue reading: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/04/doctor-diagnosed-michigan-mom-ego-dystonic-lesbianism/ (source)
Listening to Lesbians 