'You're gay because there are demons in you': Dr Christian Jessen breaks down in tears as he goes undercover to investigate bogus 'gay cures'
- Embarrassing Bodies Dr Jessen goes undercover in C4 documentary
- Tests out 'right brain therapy' which he deems as 'nonsense'
- In aversion therapy is made to vomit while viewing images of nude men
By Scarlett Russell
PUBLISHED: 14:45 GMT, 18 March 2014 | UPDATED: 19:46 GMT, 18 March 2014
Dr Christian Jessen, the British TV doctor who presents Embarrassing Bodies, tonight goes undercover in an alarming documentary, testing various therapies which claim to 'rid' people of homosexuality.
In the Channel 4 documentary, Undercover Doctor: Cure Me I'm Gay, openly gay Dr Jessen explores the various controversial methods being deployed in the UK and US to ‘cure' gay patients.
These include 'aversion therapy' in UK and 'gay rehab' in the US.
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| Dr Jessen undergoes various therapies deployed in the UK and US that claim to 'cure' his homosexuality, in the C4 documentary |
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| Dr Christian Jessen at a rally in Washington with patients claiming they had been 'cured' from being gay |
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| Dr Jessen is shown pictures of naked men whilst being given syrup to make him vomit, shown in C4's Cure Me I'm Gay |
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| Dr Jessen is seen vomiting after during his 'Aversion Therapy' in C4#s documentary, Cure Me I'm Gay |
We see Dr Jessen given bottle of ipecac syrup to drink, to make him vomit for hours while looking at pictures of naked men and listening to tapes telling him he is ‘worthless,' that being gay was evil and that he should want to have sex with women.
This ‘shock therapy' used to be deployed by doctors for treating homosexuality, ‘since probably the 1920s, 30, 40s and going on well into the 1970s and 80s,' Dr Jessen tells Mail Online.
Patients were given injections every two hours which would make them vomit and have diarrhoea.
The theory was that, afterwards, seeing images of naked men or having homosexual thoughts, would cause a physical reaction.
No patients claimed to be cured by this method.
‘I can't believe that people like me ? a doctor ? would actually prescribe this to people like me ? gay,' Dr Jessen told This Morning.
The documentary then shows Dr Jessen visit the southern states of America, known as the Bible Belt.
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| Dr Jessen drinks ipecac syrup to make him vomit during 'Aversion Therapy' (left) and waiting for the syrup to take affect, Dr Jessen sits in the doctor's room, looking at images of naked men (right) | |
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| Dr Jessen is handed ipecac syrup to drink (left) to make him vomit for hours whilst looking at pictures of naked men and listening to tapes telling him he is ‘worthless,' because he is gay | |
Some in these deeply religious areas believe that being gay is a state of mind - one that can be treated.
‘The most shocking thing, was that these religious leaders do not believe we were born gay, but that it's a condition caused by childhood trauma,' says Dr Jessen in the documentary.
Worried about how these views would affect young people, Dr Jessen contacted many Evangelistic churches within the Bible Belt, but they refused to grant him interviews.
Instead, he spoke to young church-goers outside the building to ask their views.
We see him speak to various teenagers, who stated that being gay is a ‘state of mind.'
Two teenage girls, aged 16 and 20, explain that being gay ‘happens when bad spirits are inside you. Demons.'
Dr Jessen is visibly upset by this.
‘Imagine being gay and being told that?' he says, before crying in frustration.
‘I think you should get me out of here, I've had enough,' he says to the camera crew before walking away.
‘I'd been doing reasonably well before then, keeping myself together and regarding all of this as just nonsense,' Dr Jessen tell Mail Online.
‘Rather stupidly, I thought younger people must share different views and I hoped to see some open-mindedness.
‘It saddened me deeply that this wasn't the case.
‘They don't come up with these ideas themselves, they are taught them, and that's incredibly worrying.
‘They go to schools where creationism is taught over evolution, it's unbelievable.'
During ‘right brain therapy,' Dr Jessen went undercover, posing as ‘Adrian', a gay man who wanted to be cured.
He visited Jerry Mungadze, an ex-church pastor, who claims to be a doctor. However, as Dr Jessen found out, Mungadze has no medical qualifications beyond a minor degree in psychology.
His ‘right brain therapy,' which costs $250, claims to spot how gay the patient actually is, and why, by getting them to colour in a drawing of a brain.
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| Add captionJerry Mungadze, an ex-church pastor, claims to be a doctor but, as Dr Jessen found out, has no medical qualifications beyond a minor degree in psychology. |
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| Dr Jessen watches videos of Jerry Mungadze, amazed at his 'Right Brain Therapy' theories which he deems as 'nonsense' |
Posing as ‘Adrian,' Dr Jessen did this, with no prior medical consultation from Mungadze, who even admitted to being colour blind.
‘Adrian' had to describe which part of the drawing he had filled in which colour.
‘He told me the parts I'd drawn in black symbolised all the abuse I'd had as a child,' says Dr Jessen.
‘Which is odd because I had a happy childhood and a lovely relationship with my parents.'
Unbelievably, we see Mungadze tell ‘Adrian' that the thyroid gland (the gland located in your neck) and the adrenal gland (located above the kidney) are both located in the brain.
‘What a load of absolute nonsense,' says Dr Jessen.
‘It's damaging because people watch his videos and actually think you can retrain the brain.'
Dr Jessen also investigated ‘gay rehab.'
Dr Jessen visits John Smid, who is now openly gay, but for years was married and living in denial.
Smid used to run a rehabilitation programme for gay men before he accepted his sexuality and retired in 2007.
'As with drug or alcohol rehabilitation, the rehab attempts to completely isolate the patient from his addiction,' explains Dr Jessen.
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| In C4's documentary Undercover Doctor: Cure Me I'm Gay, Dr Jessen is tested at Cornell University in New York to confirm that he is, in fact, '100% gay.' |
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| Wires are connected to Dr Jessen during an experiment at Cornell University in New York to test his levels of homosexuality |
Smid then talks Dr Jessen through 'gay rehab', as if he were still conducting the course, rifling through his suitcase and discarding anything that might 'cause us to feel sensual or sexual.'
Sorting through Dr Jessen's CDs, Smid claims that music ‘rises up the senses,' so he should only listen to ‘Christian music.'
Smid says his Mozart CD would be identified as ‘not Christian,' and his Adele CD would be seen as equally inappropriate, as the singer is popular within the gay community.
Smid himself now admits: 'I've never met a man who experienced a change from homosexual to heterosexual.'
Dr Jessen says that he hopes the documentary raises awareness and helps the gay community feel more assured.
‘I hope young, vulnerable people who perhaps may have considered these therapies will watch the programme and realise it's all nonsense and they have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of,' he says.
Undercover Doctor: Cure Me I'm Gay is on Channel 4 tonight at 10pm
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