Aversion therapy

Aversion therapy is a form of psychiatric treatment in which the patient is exposed to a stimulus while simultaneously being hurt or made ill.

This conditioning causes the patient to associate the stimulus with unpleasant sensations.

Aversion therapy can take many forms, a few examples being: Placing unpleasant-tasting chemicals on the nails to discourage nail-chewing, giving alcoholics drugs that make the intake of alcohol unpleasant, or simply scolding a child while they are doing wrong.

Aversion therapy and gay men
In the 1970s and 1980s, suspected gay men and lesbians in the South African Defense Force were forced to undergo torture and gross maltreatment, including aversion therapy and chemical castration. Aversion therapy sometimes involved applying electric current, via electrodes, to men while they were shown pictures of naked men. The current would be turned off when photographs of naked women were shown.

Historically, in the Western world, injections of apomorphine were used, resulting in violent illness. At least one person has died as a result. This is now seen as unethical without the patient's informed consent.

Popular culture
Anthony Burgess explored the concept, and its moral implications, in his 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange.

The movie Latter Days includes a scene in which a character is subjected to aversion therapy in an attempt to change his sexual orientation.

A radio commercial in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas refers to the practice of aversion therapy.