Aetiological Factors in Homosexuality as Seen in Royal Air Force Psychiatric Practice

Abstract

I have been interested in the conflicting attitudes of the legal and psychiatric branches of the Service towards homosexuality. The legal branch sees homosexuality as a crime which still carries severe penalties. As a Service psychiatrist I have been impressed by the seemingly genuine desire to be cured shown by many homosexuals who come to me for help and I was struck by the high incidence of neurotic symptoms in them. To find out how many of the homosexuals seen by me were ill and to learn about the aetiology of homosexuality as seen in the Armed Forces I compared 50 consecutive homosexuals with 50 neurotics picked at random from my out-patients during the same period (1958–59).