Diagnosing Homosexuality in a State Department of Mental Health

The American Psychiatric Association’s 1973 decision to eliminate homosexuality as a mental disorder has created interest in the extent to which a person’s sexual orientation continues to be used as the basis for psychiatric diagnosis. Records of 359 patients given a DSM II diagnosis of Homosexuality/Sexual Orientation Disturbance between 1973 & 1979 were obtained from the Missouri Department of Mental Health automated data-base. Demographic information & diagnostic trends were studied.