This post was written by Neil Gleason, Ph.D., and Todd Jennings, MA, researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Nevada, respectively. They are leading experts on the intersection of problematic sexual behaviors and LGBTQ health.

Mark is a deeply religious man who, in his own words, has “struggled with same-sex attraction” for much of his life. He feels deep shame about his attractions to other men and has tried without success to ignore these feelings. After years of struggling, he decided to seek therapy.

Mark is told by his therapist, much to his relief, that he is not a homosexual, but actually struggling with “sex addiction” rooted in early life trauma. With intensive treatment, his therapist assures him he can get rid of his addictive same-sex attractions.

Mark’s story illustrates how “sex addiction” has been (and unfortunately, still continues to be) used as a justification for “conversion therapy,” or treatment that attempts to change one’s sexual orientation (Jennings, Gleason, Pachankis, et al., 2024).

To be clear, conversion therapy doesn’t effectively get rid of same-sex attractions and can be deeply harmful to those subjected to it (APA, 2021). The diagnosis for compulsive sexual behavior disorder in the ICD-11 has language that specifically prohibits the diagnosis from being used in this way: it states CSBD should not be solely diagnosed “based on distress related to moral judgements and disapproval about sexual impulses, urges, or........

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