Psychiatry’s treatment for homosexuality (in a bid to cure it) included behavioural treatments such as aversion therapy and covert sensitisation. The first recorded use of aversion therapy was in 1930 for the treatment of alcoholism, but by the 1950s and 1960s up until early 1980’s it had become one of the more popular methods used to 'cure' sexual deviation, including homosexuality and cross-dressing. Treatments were mainly carried out in NHS hospitals throughout Britain. The most common treatment was behavioural aversion therapy with electric shocks. Also, nausea induced by apomorphine as the aversive stimulus was used, however this was reported less often. Moreover, there is very little published research on this interesting part of mental health history. 

Tommy Dickinson, a senior lecturer in mental health nursing at the University of Central Lancashire, conducted a PhD study exploring 'the historical intersection of homosexuality and psychiatry'. In the study he interviewed former patients who received these 'treatments', and also nurses who helped administer them.