Orlando LBTQ+, the first legally recognised scientific organisation in Greece dedicated specifically to the mental health of LGBTQ+ people, conducted the country’s first national survey on conversion therapy and has anonymously published survivors’ testimonies to highlight the effects of what it describes as inhumane practices.
What conversion therapy involves
Conversion therapy refers to any intervention, whether psychotherapeutic, psychological, medical, pharmaceutical, behavioural, or spiritual, that aims to alter a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Those carrying out such interventions may include health professionals, mental health practitioners, religious figures, or alternative therapists. In 2020, these practices were declared a form of torture by the International Council for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, and an independent UN expert published a report calling for their global ban.
The documented consequences include feelings of guilt and shame, self-hatred, social withdrawal, feelings of dehumanisation, loss of trust and impaired functioning in interpersonal relationships, depression, self-harm, anxiety disorders, and problematic substance use. Research indicates that a young person who has undergone such treatment faces an almost 30% chance of attempting suicide.
Survey findings
Orlando LBTQ+ carried out its national survey beginning in January 2021 over the course of nearly a year. The organisation subsequently launched an independent campaign titled ‘Your identity does not need to change’, aimed at informing the public and demanding a universal ban and criminalisation of these practices.
The survey found that mental health professionals were responsible for the majority of conversion therapy, accounting for 52% of cases. Priests, confessors, monks, and other religious figures accounted for 24%, health professionals for 9%, and alternative healers or others for 15%.
The practices described in the qualitative portion of the research ranged from psychological violence to physical and sexual violence. So-called ‘reparative’ practices carried out through mental health services were the most common, followed by practices of punishment and deprivation, particularly within religious settings. Behavioural sensitisation and desensitisation practices were also recorded, along with sexual harassment and ‘reparative’ rape in the context of religious indoctrination.
A ban that fails to protect
In 2022, as part of the first phase of New Democracy’s efforts to project a liberal profile, the government legislated a ban on conversion therapy. However, the amendment was short, incomplete, and poorly worded. Critically, the ban is not universal: it explicitly permits conversion therapy where the individual has ‘consented’, creating the dangerous contradiction of a person supposedly consenting to practices that have been demonstrably shown to be harmful, unscientific, and recognised internationally as a form of torture and gender-based violence.
Orlando LBTQ+ has criticised this approach, arguing that rather than suppressing conversion therapy, it potentially reinforces it by providing an explicit legal means of implementation. The organisation said its research and clinical experience, both before and after the legislation, confirmed fears that the law is inadequate, with minors and young adult LGBTQ+ individuals remaining at constant risk of serious mental and physical abuse.
The international context
The rise of far-right movements in the United States and Europe has contributed to the emergence of scientific networks and organisations composed of highly conservative mental health professionals. These groups challenge the affirmative, non-directive approach to supporting transgender people and those exploring their gender identity, an approach endorsed by major international health and mental health organisations.
Instead, they promote so-called ‘exploratory’ approaches, presented as moderate alternatives. In practice, however, these often amount to conversion therapy conducted through psychotherapy, with serious consequences for those subjected to them. Orlando LBTQ+ noted that similar examples exist in Greece, with backing from some of the country’s largest child psychiatry and psychoanalytic associations.
The organisation stated: ‘Today we know that the current government no longer wants to be associated with even instrumental support for LGBTQI+ rights, and therefore we do not expect it to change the unenforceable and dangerous law that it itself introduced. However, we call for persistent and continuous efforts from colleagues, psychosocial support professionals, and the general public to disseminate accurate information about conversion therapies in Greece, especially about the more insidious, seemingly modest forms in which they may be presented and carried out. The results of our research on the experiences of LGBTQI+ people in Greece are difficult but indicative.’
Survivors’ testimonies
Orlando LBTQ+ anonymously shared testimonies from people who underwent conversion therapy in Greece:
‘My psychology deteriorated greatly after these events. I had severe symptoms of depression and wanted to die. I felt so ashamed and disgusted with myself. I couldn’t take it any more. I wouldn’t be here to answer this questionnaire if I didn’t have the support of friends.’
‘I assumed things about myself that weren’t true, and they ended up hurting me a lot. I used heteronormative sex in a self-destructive way, trying to prove to myself that I wasn’t LGBTQ+.’
‘I felt confused about my true self. I thought I was no longer gay, and even though I knew deep down that it wasn’t true, I didn’t want to see it. I married a woman. There was a cover-up, which burst after a decade, and I’m still undergoing therapy, now aged 45, so that I can accept myself as a whole. Damage was done that affected my life as a whole, as well as the lives of my loved ones, like my wife.’
‘I felt the security and support that psychotherapy should normally provide was lost. It made me question even more a sexual identity that I already had difficulty accepting, a fact that significantly worsened the quality of my life until almost recently, a year and a half later.’
‘Huge suspicion and avoidance of re-approaching mental health professionals. Hate. Anger.’
‘Guilt, self-rejection, sadness, disorientation from my identity.’
‘Depression, resignation, fear, trauma and isolation for a few years.’
‘I was very confused and struggled to get my therapist to listen to me, instead of listening to myself.’
‘I almost went crazy.’
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