Conversion therapy (aka. reparative therapy, ex-gay/ex-trans therapy, exploratory therapy) is the widely debunked, ineffective, and abusive pseudoscientific practice of trying to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity to fit heterosexual and cisgender social norms.
Oftentimes, within online support groups for parents, questions arise about "treatments" that fall well outside the established evidence base for childhood mental health disorders. These suggestions frequently include supplements and "natural" fixes-zinc, saffron oil, magnesium-or restrictive diets such as gluten-free, casein-free, or "detox" protocols. Posts also commonly promote pseudoscientific interventions like sensory integration therapy, red light therapy, or homeopathy. Parents recommend them to other parents despite little to no scientific support for their effectiveness.
Despite a tower of evidence refuting the theory so massive it would give the Burj Khalifa a run for its money, the ridiculous idea that gender dysphoria is somehow transmissible through societal pressure has been included in a draft report from the UN's human rights office.
I spent 25 years holding debates against people like Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval and John Anthony West, who argued that the pyramids and the Sphinx were built 15,000 years ago by people from Atlantis.
The approach is not based on any clear scientific approaches, just what 'sounds' like science. It is dangerous, given that an unsuspecting public would have no reason to think it wasn't scientific. It is a public health danger.
