For some doctors in Delhi, homosexuality is a mental illness much like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and can be treated for a tidy sum.

A Mail Today investigation into the business of ‘curing’ homosexual men and women has revealed that even locally well-known licensed doctors have no qualms in using what they call ‘conversion therapy’.

Mail Today has visual and audio records of its conversation with the doctors.

Dr Vinod Raina, who runs 'Safe Hands' in Safdarjung Enclave, claims to have 'cured' over 1,000 homosexuals

Conversion therapy is a highly discredited practice which claims to turn homosexuals into heterosexuals in a matter of months. It includes a series of dubious procedures — giving electric shocks or nausea-inducing drugs, prescribing testosterone or talk therapy — which can lead to depression, anxiety, seizures, drug use and suicidal tendencies.

The practice is stoutly condemned by mainstream health regulatory bodies, both in India and abroad, because of its potentially devastating effects on the lives of gay people.

Agencies such as the World Health Organisation regard homosexuality as a normal variation of human sexuality. But that doesn’t prevent sexologists like Dr. Vinod Raina, who runs ‘Safe Hands’ in Safdarjung Enclave, from flouting the medical dictum “do no harm”.

Under his hormone replacement therapy package, he promises “100 per cent cure” for homosexuality.

Dr. S.K. Jain of the Burlington Clinic prescribes ayurvedic medicine as a 'remedy'

“It is a six-to nine-month contract until the boy gets cured. Some get cured in three months, others take over a year. The complete package costs Rs 1.1 lakh,” says Dr. Raina, who claims to have been treating patients for the past 15 years.

“But you have to pay the cash in advance. We do not accept cheques,” he adds.

Citing anecdotal examples from previous “successful” treatments, he dispels concerns about any possible side effects.

“There is no side effect. I have cured over 1,000 homosexuals. There was this man, 26-27 years’ old, who used to have sex with other guys four to five times a day. His parents and family members were worried about his shameful behaviour and brought him here. After my treatment, he got married in three months and now is a father,” Dr. Raina claims.

FAST TRACK 'CURE'

He says the number of people approaching him for treatment of homosexuality has gone up after an AIIMS doctor recently committed suicide and blamed her gay husband for her action.

“The problem with homosexuals is that they have more female hormones. After taking blood samples, we increase male hormones in them,” Dr. Raina says.

He also blames "recessive homosexual genes" in parents that become dominant in their kids, as well as childhood sexual abuse as causes for homosexuality, a theory that finds support from Dr. P.K. Gupta, consultant senior sexologist at Dr. P.K. Gupta’s Super Speciality Clinic in Karol Bagh.

Dr. Gupta describes homosexuality as a mental and genetic disorder and believes in exploring evidence of childhood psychological damage before starting the treatment. He is also a member of the Council of Sex Education and Parenthood (International), an organisation that believes in embracing all forms of sexuality non-judgmentally.

“Get the patient here,” he says when asked about treatment details on behalf of a patient’s worried family members.

“Before treatment, I have to know (patient’s) history and find out if he has been abused as a child,” says Dr. Gupta.

“He will first have to undergo counselling for 15 minutes; charges for which are Rs 4,500. I will ask him several questions to help me decide whether to go for hormonal therapy or psychological therapy. For this, it’s very important to evaluate the patient,” he says, reassuring that a cure will be in sight in three or four months.

While conversion therapy survivors often recount stories of seizure-inducing electric shocks with electrodes attached to their skulls (the last resort in a line of treatments to bring behavioural changes in the brain), therapists Mail Today spoke to denied using electric shocks as an option, perhaps in the absence of a real patient.

LGBT supporters protesting at Jantar Mantar against the recriminalisation of homosexuality. (File picture)

The closest we came to experiencing the dangers facing homosexuals was at Radha Poly Clinic in Mahipalpur.

Tucked inside a narrow concrete lane amid local retailers is Dr. Nagendra Kumar’s clinic, a one-storey building resembling in part a chemist shop, though a notice on the wall clearly discourages prospective medicine buyers.

On his official letter head, Dr. Kumar is named as a resident at ‘Max Hospital’. A few minutes into the conversation, he prescribes Oleanz 5mg, a tablet for treating a variety of mental disorders, which can cause serious side effects such as seizures, changes in vision and breathing difficulties, for our fictitious gay relative.

“This is a neuropsychiatric disorder like schizophrenia, mania, bipolar disorder and hysteria. It is a good thing that you have decided to seek a doctor’s help. Start the medicine’s usage and we will see the effect in time,” he says.

MAINSTREAM IRE

But how do you notice the effect? “It can be gauged only through observation,” Dr. Kumar tells us, listing a series of visual indicators to watch out for.

“Keep a watch on what time the patient sleeps, find out if he wakes up in between to stimulate himself or watch pornography, whether he wants to be alone, whether he is afraid/hesitant to talk to women and if he is able to sustain eye contact…all these activities have to be watched,” he says.

“If you see at least 20 per cent change (an estimate he revises several times during the conversation before finally settling at 5 per cent), we know we are on the right track. Otherwise we will change the medicine after 10 days,” he says nonchalantly.

If the practitioners of modern medicine are treading on a host of ethical and legal issues while attempting to "cure" homosexuality, their counterparts in alternative medicine such as homeopathy and ayurveda, on the other hand, seem to be operating with absolute impunity and advertising fast-track cure at nominal rates.

The Dr. Dilbag Clinic in Uttam Nagar claims it can cure homosexuality in just a month for as little as Rs 2,100.

The clinic’s website describes homosexuality as the root cause of many “complicated diseases” in future life.

“There is no need for the patient to come here. You can carry the medicine,” says Dr. S.P. Singh, resident sexologist.

“The advantage with homeopathy is that there is no side effect,” he adds.

The view is also touted by Dr. S.K. Jain of Karol Bagh-based Burlington Clinic which prescribes ayurvedic medicine as a remedy for homosexuality. He also claims that a patient will be cured with counselling and medicine in a month without any side-effect or relapse.

Reacting to the Mail Today exposé, mainstream medical bodies and health professionals have expressed shock and strongly condemned the unethical practice.

Dr. Harish Shetty, psychiatrist at L.H. Hiranandani Hospital, Mumbai, says: “Any attempt to convert people with definite sexual orientation is a crime. It is quackery and violation of human rights. There is no evidence to show that any form of therapy can convert a homosexual into a heterosexual or vice versa.

“It is a violation of medical ethics and doctors who engage in such practices can be prosecuted by the medical council. Prescribing medicines without the knowledge of a patient is a crime even if it is under the instigation of parents or family members,” Dr Shetty adds.

“It is really sad. People who claim to cure homosexuality are taking the gullible for a ride,” says Nimesh G. Desai, Director, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), a neuropsychiatric hospital under the Health Ministry.

“Homosexuality is a variation of human sexuality. It is not a neuropsychiatric disorder,” Desai says, adding: “The best way to counter such practices is to increase public awareness and acceptance of homosexuals. To say that those sexually abused as children will turn out to be homosexuals is a fable.”

Pulkit Sharma, a Delhi-based clinical psychologist and psychoanalytic therapist, says it is a myth that homosexuality can be cured.

“There is absolutely no scientific evidence that any of these treatments will work,” he says.

Emphasising that the Indian Medical Association (IMA) does not believe in differentiating between genders, its general secretary Dr. K.K. Agarwal adds that doctors have the right to intervene and help if it is a case of forced homosexuality.

“The doctors need to decide this on a case-to-case basis,” he said.

For its part, the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) urges therapists to refrain from diagnosing or tracking the history of homosexuals in an attempt to treat them.

“IPS does not regard homosexuality a mental disorder,” says its national general secretary N.N. Raju.

“As doctors, you should make the homosexuals understand that they are just like any other normal individual.”

Why the therapy DOESN'T work

Conversion therapies have little scientific evidence to back them up.

A review of studies on the subject by the American Psychological Association from 1960 to 2007 has showed that a vast majority of them did not reveal whether the therapies achieved their stated goals.

Rather, they can be harmful to patients, leading to loss of sexual feeling, depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies.

As recently as June last year, the UK’s department of health in consultation with various psychiatric and psychological associations issued a public health advisory stating that it would be irresponsible and potentially damaging for a therapist to try and change sexual orientation.

The website of Dr. Dilbag Clinic in Uttam Nagar East offers a 'total cure' for homosexuality in just one month

FIRST PERSON: 'I received 21 electric shocks in three months': What really happens in conversion 'therapy'

As told to Sangeeth Sebastian

Traumatised: The young man who spoke to Mail Today endured 21 shock treatments. (Picture for representation)

I was doing my final year master’s at D.U. when we went for a study tour as a part of the course. There was this boy in my class whom I had feelings for; he also happened to be my family friend. I was always afraid to share my feelings with him for fear that I might lose my best friend.

Then this trip happened. During the trip we shared the same room and one night we got drunk and I couldn’t resist myself. It was the beginning of my end. He came home, narrated my shameful behaviour and humiliated me in front of my entire family.

My sister is a psychologist. She promised me that she would help me become straight, though I did not want to be. She took me to a leading psychiatrist. It was a nightmare for the next three months . The psychiatrist asked me to change my thinking. He talked to me about heterosexual love making.

When I told him that I was not attracted to girls at all, he asked me to sit on a chair and attached electrodes to my finger tips. He then gave me mild electric shocks, administering each shock after showing the picture of a nude male, to induce aversion.

When it didn’t work, I was sedated and asked to lie down on a bed with electrodes attached to my skull. My hands and legs were tied and my mouth gagged to prevent me from biting my tongue during the shock treatment.

The session lasted for 15 to 20 minutes with a cooling period of 30 seconds after each shock. In three months I received 21 shock treatments. It was terrible. I was in a dizzy state, feeling nauseatic all the time. I could not talk properly. My words got jumbled when I tried to speak.

Due to this I had to miss my viva. I was literally imprisoned in my house for three months. My study got disrupted and my degree got delayed by a year.

To tell you the truth, all this treatment has made little change in my orientation. I am still gay and will always be, though to my family, I am "normal" now.

My mom keeps teasing whenever I go out and asks for the names of girls whom I have met or made friends with. It is disgusting. I hoped that at least she would understand me when I was bedridden for three months. If she can’t feel my pain, then why should I be bothered about her feelings?

I am firm that I am not going to get married to a girl. I don’t want to ruin the life of a woman.