Conversion therapy (扭转治疗)

Conversion therapy (niuzhuan zhiliao, literally “twist-back treatment”) covers any intervention claiming to turn gay people straight or to “correct” gender identity — talk-based indoctrination, medication, aversive stimuli. It rests on a premise that has been overturned: that orientation is a disease needing a cure. After depathologization, the mainstream medical consensus is unambiguous — orientation is not an illness, needs no treatment, and cannot be “treated” into something else. These practices are not just ineffective; they are associated with real psychological harm, including depression and anxiety.

In mainland China, homosexuality has not been classified as a mental disorder since 2001, yet outfits offering such “services” under various labels persist. Worth knowing: Chinese courts have ruled, in public judgments, that conversion therapy providers engaged in false advertising and owed an apology — the claim “we can cure it” failed even as a matter of law.

If your family is taking you to — or pressuring you into — this kind of “treatment”: you are not ill, and you are not the one who needs fixing. Safety first; you do not have to confront anyone head-on right now. See handling family pressure, and if you are close to the edge, help is here.

Register note: formal writing often puts “therapy” in scare quotes — the practice does not merit the word. “Reparative therapy” and “sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE)” are the main English synonyms.

Common misreading: lumping legitimate counseling in with conversion therapy. A qualified counselor helps you carry less and live with yourself better, and never sets “changing your orientation” as a goal; conversely, any provider promising change has identified itself. See the myth pages on conversion therapy and whether orientation can be changed.