Dr. Sridhar Yaratha possesses more than 15 years of experience practicing psychiatry and has also served as a faculty member at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. Active in his profession outside of his everyday duties, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha is a longtime member of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). In November 2018, the APA reaffirmed its stance against conversion therapy, a type of therapy designed to treat homosexuality as a mental health defect with the ultimate goal of turning a homosexual person into a heterosexual person. The organization has opposed this practice for two decades, but recently felt the need to restate its position given the recent public awareness of the practice through news and entertainment media. Conversion therapy has been deemed a harmful practice by 14 states, which have banned it outright. The APA concurs, citing the fact that conversion therapy is not rooted in evidence-based science and carries the potential for significant damage to the patient’s self-worth. Further, the APA has adopted the position that sexual orientation is not correlated to mental health and is not an aspect of a person’s life that necessitates change.
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AuthorSince 2006, Dr. Sridhar Yaratha has worked for Central State Hospital in Petersburg, Virginia, as a forensic psychiatrist and attending physician for the men’s long-term forensic unit. Archives
January 2020
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