The words "conversion therapy" can make the practice sound like an established form of psychological treatment.
That description is misleading.
Conversion therapy is an umbrella term for efforts intended to change, suppress or discourage a person's sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or behaviors associated with them.
In professional psychological literature, you may instead encounter terms such as sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) and gender identity change efforts (GICE).
The American Psychological Association uses these terms partly to distinguish these practices from evidence-based psychotherapy. The APA states that attempts to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity are not supported by credible evidence as effective therapeutic treatments and can carry risks of harm.
So what exactly does conversion therapy involve?
Why did people begin practicing it?
Does it work?
And why is it still the subject of medical, religious, legal and political debate?
Here's what to know.
What Is Conversion Therapy?
Conversion therapy refers broadly to practices intended to change or suppress someone's sexual orientation or gender identity, or discourage behaviors and expressions associated with LGBTQ+ identities.
Historically, the most familiar example has been attempting to change a gay or lesbian person's sexual orientation so that they become heterosexual.
Practices aimed at transgender and gender-nonconforming people may instead attempt to change or suppress gender identity or expression.
The terminology matters.
The American Psychological Association describes these practices as sexual orientation change efforts and gender identity change efforts, rather than treating "conversion therapy" as a recognized evidence-based form of therapy.
Is Being Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual a Mental Illness?
No.
Major medical and mental-health organizations do not classify homosexuality as a mental disorder.
The American Psychological Association describes lesbian, gay and bisexual orientations as normal forms of human experience.
That represents a major change from earlier periods in psychology and psychiatry.
For decades, homosexuality was sometimes treated as something pathological that needed to be corrected.
That historical belief helped create the environment in which conversion practices developed.
Modern mainstream psychology no longer accepts that premise.
What Can Conversion Therapy Involve?
There is no single conversion-therapy procedure.
The term describes a broad range of practices that have appeared across different periods and settings.
Historically, some approaches used aversive conditioning, attempting to associate same-sex attraction or LGBTQ+ expression with unpleasant experiences.
Other approaches have relied primarily on talking, counseling or behavioral techniques.
Practices may involve attempts to:
discourage same-sex relationships,
encourage heterosexual relationships,
change patterns of attraction,
suppress particular behaviors,
alter gender expression,
or encourage someone to conform to heterosexual or cisgender expectations.
Some change efforts have taken place in clinical settings.
Others have occurred through religious or spiritual counseling, family interventions, camps, ministries or informal programs.
That diversity is one reason discussions about "conversion therapy" can become confusing.
Two people using the term may not necessarily be describing exactly the same practice.
Is Conversion Therapy the Same as Regular Counseling?
No.
A therapist helping someone explore questions about sexuality, relationships, religion, gender or identity is not automatically practicing conversion therapy.
The important distinction is the predetermined objective.
Evidence-based psychotherapy can help someone understand their feelings, cope with distress, examine relationships, explore identity, work through conflicts and make decisions.
That does not require the therapist to decide beforehand what the client's sexual orientation or gender identity ought to become.
The APA describes appropriate psychological support as including identity exploration, coping skills, family support, education, resilience and informed decision-making without imposing a particular sexual orientation or gender-identity outcome.
That distinction is important.
Someone can have genuine questions or conflicts about sexuality or gender and seek professional counseling without therapy being designed to "convert" them.
Why Would Someone Seek Conversion Therapy?
The reasons can be complicated.
Some people may experience conflict between their attractions or identity and their:
religious beliefs,
family expectations,
community,
culture,
relationships,
or personal values.
Others may experience rejection, discrimination or pressure from people around them.
In some cases, parents or guardians may initiate change efforts involving a young person.
There are also people who voluntarily seek counseling because they want help reconciling their sexuality, gender, behavior or relationships with deeply held beliefs.
Recognizing that these conflicts can be genuine does not establish that changing sexual orientation or gender identity is an effective treatment.
It instead illustrates why compassionate, evidence-based counseling can matter.
Does Conversion Therapy Work?
This is where the scientific evidence becomes particularly important.
According to the American Psychological Association, credible research has not demonstrated that conversion practices reliably change sexual orientation or gender identity.
An APA review of the research found insufficient evidence that sexual-orientation change efforts were effective at changing sexual orientation.
More recent APA reviews continue to reach the same general conclusion.
One difficulty in evaluating historical claims of "success" is determining what actually changed.
A person might change:
behavior,
relationships,
how they identify publicly,
how they describe themselves,
or whether they disclose certain attractions.
That isn't necessarily the same thing as changing underlying sexual attraction.
Research therefore has to distinguish between behavioral change, identity labels and sexual orientation itself.
What Does Research Say About Harm?
Research has associated exposure to sexual-orientation and gender-identity change efforts with a range of negative psychological and social outcomes.
The APA summarizes reported outcomes including:
depression,
anxiety,
shame,
self-blame,
relationship difficulties,
social isolation,
substance misuse,
and suicidal thoughts or attempts.
A large systematic review published in 2026 examined 130 empirical articles involving sexual-orientation and gender-identity/expression change efforts.
Among the prospective studies reviewed, at least one form of harm was identified in roughly 78% of them. Most retrospective studies included in the review also reported statistically significant associations between exposure to change efforts and harm.
There are important methodological limitations in this research.
Many studies are observational or retrospective, which makes establishing direct causation more difficult than in randomized controlled trials. Historical studies also vary considerably in the interventions examined, populations studied and methods used.
Those limitations should be acknowledged.
But they don't provide positive evidence that conversion therapy works.
The overall evidence has led major psychological and medical organizations to oppose practices aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity.
Why Is Conversion Therapy Especially Concerning for Young People?
Children and teenagers have less independence than adults.
They may depend on parents, guardians, religious communities or other authority figures for:
housing,
education,
healthcare,
financial support,
and emotional security.
That can complicate the meaning of consent.
Research cited by the APA has associated exposure to conversion efforts during adolescence with poorer mental-health outcomes, including increased depression and suicidal behavior.
This concern about minors has been a major reason some governments have introduced restrictions on conversion practices.
What About Religion?
Religion is an important part of this discussion because some conversion practices historically developed within religious settings, while some people voluntarily seek counseling because their sexuality or gender creates conflict with their faith.
That doesn't mean religious belief itself is conversion therapy.
A person practicing a religion that has traditional teachings about sexuality is not automatically participating in conversion therapy.
Likewise, discussing faith, celibacy, relationships, behavior or personal values with a religious leader isn't automatically equivalent to a clinical change effort.
The difficult questions arise when counseling moves toward attempting to change or suppress someone's sexual orientation or gender identity, particularly when coercion or minors are involved.
People can have sincere religious convictions and sincere questions about sexuality simultaneously.
Good support should allow those conflicts to be explored without humiliation, coercion or predetermined assumptions about what someone's identity must become.
Is Conversion Therapy Illegal?
There isn't one worldwide answer.
Laws differ substantially between countries and, in federal systems, between states or provinces.
Some jurisdictions prohibit licensed mental-health professionals from providing certain conversion practices to minors.
Other restrictions extend further.
Some places have no specific conversion-therapy prohibition at all.
And the legal situation can change through legislation and court decisions.
The Legal Debate in the United States
The United States provides a good example of how complicated the legal question can become.
Some states have enacted restrictions preventing licensed mental-health professionals from performing conversion therapy on minors.
Those laws have faced constitutional challenges.
One major case is Chiles v. Salazar, involving a Colorado law restricting licensed mental-health professionals from providing conversion therapy to minors.
The legal dispute centered in part on whether talk-based counseling should be treated as professional conduct that states may regulate or as speech receiving constitutional protection.
In March 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Colorado's restriction, as applied to the counselor's talk therapy, implicated protected speech and required stricter First Amendment scrutiny. The case was sent back for further proceedings.
Importantly, that constitutional dispute is separate from the scientific question of whether conversion therapy has been demonstrated to be effective.
Courts can consider questions about government authority and freedom of speech without establishing that a disputed therapeutic practice works.
Why Is the Subject Still Debated?
Several different issues overlap.
There's the scientific question:
Can sexual orientation or gender identity reliably be changed through therapeutic intervention?
There's the ethical question:
Should a professional attempt to produce that change?
There's the autonomy question:
What should happen when an adult voluntarily requests counseling toward a particular personal goal?
There's the parental-rights question:
What authority should parents have over counseling involving their children?
There's the religious-freedom question:
Where should governments draw boundaries around religious counseling and belief?
And there's the free-speech question:
When counseling consists primarily of conversation, when may governments regulate what licensed professionals say as part of treatment?
Those questions are related, but they aren't identical.
Keeping them separate makes the debate much easier to understand.
What Should Someone Look for in a Therapist?
A good therapist should give you room to talk.
You should be able to discuss:
attraction,
identity,
relationships,
religion,
family,
culture,
confusion,
fear,
and uncertainty.
Without being humiliated.
Without being coerced.
And without being promised an outcome that scientific evidence cannot reliably support.
Professional therapy should also allow you to ask questions about the therapist's approach before beginning treatment.
You can ask:
What is your therapeutic approach?
How do you work with clients experiencing conflicts between sexuality and religion?
What outcomes are you trying to achieve?
Will I be pressured toward a particular identity?
What evidence supports the methods you use?
Those are reasonable questions for anyone seeking mental-health care.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is conversion therapy in simple terms?
Conversion therapy is a general term for practices intended to change or suppress someone's sexual orientation, gender identity or related expression.
Can conversion therapy make a gay person straight?
Credible scientific evidence has not established that conversion therapy can reliably change someone's underlying sexual orientation from gay to heterosexual.
Is conversion therapy psychotherapy?
The term includes practices that have sometimes been delivered by counselors or mental-health professionals, but major professional organizations including the American Psychological Association do not consider sexual-orientation or gender-identity change efforts to be evidence-based therapeutic treatments.
Is talking about sexuality with a therapist conversion therapy?
No. Discussing sexuality, identity, relationships, religion or personal values is not inherently conversion therapy. The distinction involves whether the intervention is designed around a predetermined objective of changing or suppressing sexual orientation or gender identity.
Can someone voluntarily seek counseling about unwanted same-sex attraction?
Adults can seek counseling about distress, relationships, behavior, religious conflicts or questions about sexuality. Ethical counseling can explore those concerns without promising that someone's underlying sexual orientation can be changed.
Is conversion therapy illegal everywhere?
No. Laws differ substantially around the world, and restrictions may apply differently depending on age, practitioner type and jurisdiction.
Why do some people call it "conversion therapy" in quotation marks?
Some professional organizations use quotation marks because they argue that the term "therapy" incorrectly implies that these practices constitute an evidence-based therapeutic treatment.
The Pyteline Take
Some subjects become difficult to discuss because several different conversations get compressed into one.
Conversion therapy is one of them.
Sexuality.
Gender.
Mental health.
Religion.
Family.
Freedom.
Consent.
Professional ethics.
Law.
They're all present.
But understanding the issue begins with separating the questions.
Someone experiencing conflict about their sexuality or gender deserves space to talk about that conflict.
Someone whose religious beliefs are important to them deserves to be able to discuss those beliefs.
Someone questioning their identity deserves room to explore without being told what conclusion they must reach.
And when a practice is presented as healthcare, people deserve accurate information about what the evidence actually shows.
You don't have to understand every dimension of someone else's life to recognize the importance of treating difficult personal questions with dignity.
Sometimes listening without trying to force the answer is where meaningful support begins.
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