A controversial study published Tuesday in The Journal of Sexual Medicine suggests that homophobia may have elements of a psychiatric disorder.
Researchers surveyed 551 university students to measure their homophobia, defense mechanisms, attachment styles, and psychopathologic symptoms (symptoms that are linked to mental disorders). They found that, in their limited pool of respondents, psychoticism and immature defense mechanisms were associated with homophobia.
It's far too soon to jump to any conclusions, given the limitations of the study and the non-diverse sample it included, but it seems that the result was exactly what the study's senior author was hoping for.
'I hope homophobic people find professional help'
Dr. Emmanuele Jannini, a professor of endocrinology and medical sexology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, told Tech Insider that he conducted the study because he wanted to find evidence supporting his belief that a diagnosable mental illness could explain why people are homophobic.
He said he thinks homophobia should "absolutely" be classified as a psychiatric disease.
Homosexuality, as we now know, is not a disease, Jannini explained in a 2010 paper. "However, homophobia, a phobic, psychopathologic trait, possibly should be present within the forthcoming edition of DSM [the diagnostic manual used by psychiatrists]," he wrote.
Related story
His current study aimed to see whether this earlier proposal had any empirical basis, and he and his team ultimately conclude it does. "This is the first study assessing both the psychologic and psychopathologic characteristics that could have a predictive in homophobia development," he and his co-authors wrote.
Jannini thinks that classifying homophobia as a psychiatric illness could be a positive development. "I do sincerely hope that homophobic people find professional help to correct their psychopathological traits," he told us.
Not just in people's heads
This view isn't shared across the field.
Gregory M. Herek, a psychology professor at the University of California, Davis who has studied LGBT prejudice for decades and wasn't involved in this study, told Tech Insider that he thinks treating homophobia as a mental illness is the wrong way to combat it. He argues that it's a societal problem, not an individual one.
"The mental illness approach is very psychological, it’s very much in people’s heads," Herek said. "It suggests a very individualistic model for how to treat it: put someone in therapy."
"The prejudice model," he continued, "is more about people internalizing the norms of society, so [to fix the problem] you try to change the norms, and you try to change people’s attitudes."
That's not something that can be fixed with simple diagnosis.
