Is there any study that proves that homosexuality is mental disorder

1. How psychiatry changed its mind — a decisive historical reversal

Psychiatry’s classifications explicitly listed homosexuality as a disorder in early editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, but professional consensus shifted after empirical research and social activism prompted re-evaluation; the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the DSM in 1973 and later eliminated ego-dystonic homosexuality, while the World Health Organization declassified it in 1990 ^{[1] [2]}. This institutional reversal was based on assessments that sexual orientation is a natural variation of human sexuality and that labeling it a disorder was unsupported by reliable scientific evidence; historical reviews document both coercive “treatments” used in the past and the sustained effort to depathologize same-sex attraction ^{[4] [5]}.

2. What the WHO and ICD say — global public-health policy caught up

The World Health Organization’s removal of homosexuality from its International Classification of Diseases in 1990 formalized the medical community’s rejection of classifying same-sex orientation as a pathology, and follow-up academic reviews supported proposed declassification steps in the ICD-11 era ^{[2] [6]}. These policy changes aimed to reduce stigma and align classification with contemporary evidence, and they are widely cited in subsequent guidelines and human-rights arguments; fact-checking reviews and WHO-related analyses from 2014–2024 document that this was a deliberate, evidence-driven policy shift rather than a purely political decision ^{[6] [2]}.

3. Modern studies show disparities, not pathology — minority stress explains risk

Large, recent epidemiological studies find that sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations have higher prevalence of diagnosed mental-health conditions—depression, anxiety, PTSD and substance use—compared with heterosexual, cisgender populations ^{[3] [7]}. These results do not and cannot be read as evidence that homosexuality is a mental disorder; researchers and reviews consistently interpret higher disorder rates as outcomes of stigma, discrimination and minority-stress processes rather than intrinsic pathology, a position supported by multiple national surveys and cohort studies spanning decades ^{[8] [7]}.

4. Why past claims of “treatment” don’t prove disorder — a history of coercive interventions

Archival and clinical histories document that psychiatric institutions and clinicians formerly used aversive and coercive methods aimed at changing sexual orientation, including electric shock and chemical emetics, reflecting moral and theoretical frameworks of those eras rather than objective evidence of illness ^[5]. The presence of past “therapies” and diagnostic labels is not proof of a disorder; instead, historical analyses show how sociocultural assumptions and clinical paradigms produced harmful practices, which later systematic reviews and policy reforms explicitly repudiated as unscientific and unethical ^{[5] [4]}.

5. Bottom line for evidence and public discourse — consensus and caveats

The scientific and clinical consensus — reflected in diagnostic manuals, WHO policy and contemporary research — is that homosexuality is not a mental disorder, while acknowledging clear and replicated evidence that sexual minorities face elevated mental-health burdens driven by external stressors ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Arguments asserting that homosexuality is a disorder rely on outdated classifications, misinterpreted epidemiology, or ideological framings; credible modern science emphasizes supporting SGM mental health by addressing discrimination and improving access to culturally competent care rather than relabeling sexual orientation as pathological ^{[7] [6]}.