Skip to main content

Recall of Conversion Practice Exposure Tied to Mental Health Symptoms

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Oct 1, 2024.

via HealthDay

TUESDAY, Oct. 1, 2024 -- Among sexual and gender-minority people, recall of conversion practice exposure is associated with a range of mental health symptoms, according to a study published online Sept. 30 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Nguyen K. Tran, Ph.D., from the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, and colleagues used data from the PRIDE Study to examine the association of conversion practice recall targeted at gender identity, sexual orientation, or both with current mental health symptoms among sexual and gender-minority people. A total of 6,601 participants completed a lifetime questionnaire in 2019 to 2020, and 4,440 completed a subsequent annual questionnaire in 2020 or 2021; 4,426 had all outcome data available.

Of the included participants, 43.4 percent were transgender or gender-diverse. The researchers found that 3.4, 1.0, and 1.0 percent reported sexual orientation-related conversion practice alone, gender identity-related conversion practice alone, or both, respectively. The strongest association with greater posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and suicidality symptoms was seen with recalling both forms of conversion practice (β = 2.84 and 2.14, respectively). Greater symptoms of PTSD were seen in association with recall of only sexual orientation-related conversion practice (β = 1.10), while greater depressive symptoms were seen in association with recall of gender identity-related conversion practice alone (β = 3.24). Between cisgender and transgender and gender-diverse participants, only the association for suicidality differed; higher mental health symptoms overall were seen for gender-diverse participants.

"Policies banning conversion practices are imperative and should be implemented as a structural intervention to safeguard the health and well-being of sexual and gender minority people," the authors write.

Two authors disclosed ties to pharmaceutical companies.

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Read this next

Random Forest AI Model Superior for Inpatient Mortality Prognostication in Cirrhosis

THURSDAY, July 24, 2025 -- For inpatients with cirrhosis, a machine learning (ML) model using random forest (RF) analysis is superior for prediction of inpatient mortality...

Alopecia Areata Associated With Severe Psychosocial Impact

THURSDAY, July 24, 2025 -- Alopecia areata (AA) has a severe psychosocial impact, which is linked to illness perceptions and stigma more strongly than disease severity, according...

Inflammation and Nutrition-Based Scores Tied to Prognosis of Low-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndrome

THURSDAY, July 24, 2025 -- The Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) and systemic oxidative stress (SOS) score are independently associated with poorer prognosis of low-risk...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.