ISBN: 9780691028378 0691028370

Category: Medical / Neurology

Page count: 242

<p>In 1973, after several years of bitter dispute, the Board of Trustees<br>of the American Psychiatric Association decided to remove homosexuality from its official list of mental diseases. Infuriated by the<br>Board's action, a substantial number of dissident psychiatrists<br>charged the association's leadership with capitulating to the pressures<br>of Gay Liberation groups, and forced the board to submit its decision<br>to a referendum of the full APA membership. Ronald Bayer presents<br>a political analysis of the psychiatric battle involved, from the first<br>confrontations organized by gay demonstrators at psychiatric conventions to the referendum initiated by orthodox psychiatrists. The result is a fascinating view of the individuals who led the debate and the fundamental questions that engaged them: social and cultural values, the definition of disease, and the nature of sexuality. Available for the<br>first time in paperback, the book includes a new afterword by the<br>author.</p>