The Dutch Psychiatry Association (NVvP) expresses regret for the suffering it has inflicted on people from the LGBTI community in the past. That’s what the president did Niels Mulder known on Thursday during the Spring Congress of the professional association Dutch Association for Psychiatry (NVvP) in Maastricht in front of representatives of the community.
In the Netherlands, the pathologizing of people who fell outside the norm in terms of sexuality or gender identity has long been a common practice. People who were not straight or cisgender were long considered sick in the industry and treated as such. “We recognize that these attempts to change who someone really is have caused a lot of suffering and psychological damage,” said Mulder.
In the past, many people from the LGBTI community had to deal with conversion therapy and poorly accessible care. With the expression of regret, the NVvP says it wants to “actively acknowledge the suffering” that it has caused within the community. The statement aims to raise awareness of the “pain of the past” among psychiatrists.
Stigma
The professional association also wants to ‘take responsibility’ to work on inclusive and sensitive care in the future. NVvP chairman Mulder hopes in this way to “contribute to a reduction of stigma and discrimination against LGBTIQ + people in society”. Because, Mulder emphasizes, “because of the stress that many people experience as a minority and the lack of acceptance, LGBTQ+ people can have more psychological complaints”.
The COC Netherlands considers this recognition an important step so that the ‘shadow of the past disappears from the treatment room’. “From pathologising to castration and so-called healing, they are scars in human lives and the rainbow community,” said spokesman Philip Tijsma. It is significant for Transgender Network Netherlands that the association for psychiatrists now clearly distances itself from that past. Chairman Remke Verdegem: “Gender diverse people have long been told that they are not mentally well, especially from psychologists and psychiatrists.”
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