LGBT people are not mentally ill
picture for illustrative purposes - FILEPIC
Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) Counseling Psychologist, Dr Fauziah Mohd Saad said, the American Psychological Association (APA) through the 5th Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Diseases (DSM-5) also does not recognize that group as mentally ill.
However, she said, there is no denying that most of the groups who seek psychological treatment do indeed have mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and so on due to problems with family, community and workplace acceptance.
"Before we categorize this person as having a disease, we need to make a diagnosis first because we cannot continue to classify them without doing any screening.
"We cannot categorize them (the LGBT group) as having mental illness but for example we have data to screen for mental health and see if there are characteristics, then we can do DSM-5 to allow them to be placed in which category.
"If we put these LGBT people as mental patients, it means we have labeled them (with a negative perception) but at the same time we also agree that Malaysia practices the concept of Islam and in fact other religions do not even accept LGBT people in their society," she said when contacted by Sinar on Wednesday.
She said this when asked to comment on the proposal by members of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) Parliament in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday who asked the government to classify LGBT people as mental patients.
Meanwhile, Kelantan Mufti Datuk Mohamad Shukri Mohamad said, Muslims are reminded to avoid such perverse behavior because it is an evil act and which cursed by Allah.
"We already know that Islamic law strictly prohibits this heinous act because it is included in the category of adultery, not to mention such perverse practices.
"So, we hope that any Muslim who is caught up in this act (LGBT) to return to the true teachings of Islam," he said.
When asked about the proposal that the group in question be categorized as mentally ill, Mohamad Shukri requested that the issue be raised to the appropriate party to make a decision.
"We should get the hospital's opinion or reference on this term because we cannot arbitrarily classify a person without proper reference," he said.
