Students deal with the pressures of academic success, economic strains and social dilemmas on a daily basis. For University student Max Hirsh,@@checked@@ these pressures led to life-altering decisions.
The 22-year-old student went to Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., but dropped out fall 2010. After dealing with a controversial case of alleged gay conversion psycho-therapy, Hirsh transferred to the University in 2011 in hopes of receiving acceptance and sincerity from peers.
During his tenure at Washington University, Hirsh experienced extreme social stress brought on by fellow students who responded negatively to Hirsh’s sexual orientation. Being gay in St. Louis, Mo., was tough for Hirsh, so he withdrew from his courses.
“I decided to transfer because after coming out there, I was ostracized and lost all of my friends,” Hirsh said. “It was not a good environment. I lived in the substance-free dormitories, and a lot of those students were conservative people. They didn’t react to me coming out to them well at all,” Hirsh explained.
Hirsh returned home to Portland in December 2010 and sought out professional consultation for his situation.
“Soon after leaving (Washington University) I decided it would be beneficial to deal with those depression facts,” Hirsh said.
The psychologist whom Hirsh met with consulted with Hirsh in a manner which has caught national attention from media outlets, such as the Associated Press and the Huffington Post.
Hirsh stopped seeing the psychologist, who has been left unnamed in all reports. Hirsh has filed complaints with multiple organizations including the Oregon Medical Board and the American Psychiatric Association for the way he was treated.
The complaints denote that the psychologist performed gay conversion psycho-therapy on Hirsh. The method violates Section 5 of The Principles of Medical Ethics, an ethics regimen adopted by the APA.@@checked@@
In documents attained from the Southern Poverty Law Center,@@http://www.splcenter.org/@@ the ethics complaint filed against the psychologist said: “In particular, (the doctor) repeatedly delved into stereotyped and discredited potential ’causes’ of Mr. Hirsh’s same-sex attractions, at different times suggesting that Mr. Hirsh’s poor relationships with women, deficient bonding with men, distant relationship with his father or his failures in sports might have ’caused’ his homosexuality.”
“My initial response was shock that I was in a therapy session and someone was actually telling me I wasn’t gay,” Hirsh said. “I needed to cut things off.”
Hirsh said he filed the complaints because the psychologist made him feel poorly about his sexual orientation. “He made me feel bad about being gay,” Hirsh explained. “I wanted to make sure this doesn’t happen to other people.”
In his search for his next school, Hirsh chose the University due to Eugene’s progressive culture and is currently seeing a gay-affirmative therapist as well.
Hirsh enrolled in fall 2011 and has appreciated the support from peers he has received. He is a member of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered Queer Alliance group on campus. “(The) transfer to the U of O was a great decision. The community here is supportive and allows me to be myself and pursue my education freely,” Hirsh said.