"Conversion therapy is the discredited and harmful practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity. The therapist in the case (Kaley Chiles) argues that this law is an unconstitutional restriction on her speech: psychotherapy is, on her view, a kind of speech, and thus the state law violates her First Amendment rights. The state responds that psychotherapy is a medical procedure,"
"What is psychotherapy? In some sense, it is a conversation. But we have lots of important conversations in our lives. Which ones count as "psychotherapy," and why? Thinking about a recent court case has made this philosophical question somewhat more concrete for me. Chiles v. Salazar, currently before the Supreme Court, concerns a Colorado state law banning "conversion therapy" for minors."
Psychotherapy consists of conversational interaction guided by a constitutive aim. The constitutive aim of psychotherapy is promoting a client's mental health desires. Conversion therapy attempts to change sexual orientation or gender identity and is discredited and harmful. Colorado's law bans conversion therapy for minors. One therapist argues that psychotherapy is speech and that the ban violates First Amendment rights. The state contends that psychotherapy is a medical procedure subject to regulation to prevent harm. The debate hinges on whether psychotherapy should be treated as protected speech or as regulable medical conduct, but psychotherapy's constitutive aim makes it more than ordinary conversation.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]