This classification was challenged by gay rights activists during the gay liberation movement especially following the 1969 stonewall riots, and rendered problematic by research. In 1973, the american psychiatric association (apa) removed the diagnosis of homosexuality from the second edition of its diagnostic and statistical manual (dsm) This resulted after comparing competing theories, those that pathologized. While others are frequently credited with the removal of homosexuality from dsm, it was psychiatrist thomas szasz who first opposed the medicalization of homosexuality. In the first edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (dsm), published in 1952, homosexuality was classified under sociopathic personality disturbance (1) The last 70 years have brought psychiatry a long way, but it is only in the most recent version of the dsm that the last pieces of evidence of pathologizing homosexuality were removed (2)
Here, we explore the history of homosexuality's inclusion in the dsm, its implications, and the eventual removal that marked a turning point in lgbtq+ mental health and rights. The classification and understanding of homosexuality within the field of psychology have undergone profound changes over the past century The diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (dsm), published by the american psychiatric association (apa), has played a pivotal role in shaping societal and medical perspectives on homosexuality That homosexuality is not a mental health disorder By adding ptsd to the dsm, me ntal health professionals' dia gnosis the trauma Ptsd being added to the dsm in 1980 aided mental health professionals to seek the proper diagnosis of individuals (drescher, 2015).
