Doctors in China are still offering electroshock therapies to “cure” gay people, according to an investigation by Britain’s Channel 4.

The Unreported World documentary exposes a psychiatrist telling an activist – visiting a clinic undercover – to take sickness drugs when he feels “urges”. Another doctor prescribed electroshock treatment.

YouTube video

“Your current conditioned reflex is when you see the same sex you feel love… Now what I want to make you feel is scared”, one doctor said. “When you have these urges, you shock yourself with the rod.”

gay cure electroshock
Photo: Channel 4.

The “patient” was charged 3,500 yuan (HK$4275).

Last year, a court in Beijing ruled against a clinic offering similar gay “cures”.

The documentary is viewable worldwide on the Channel 4 website.

Tom is the editor-in-chief and founder of Hong Kong Free Press. He has a BA in Communications and New Media from Leeds University and an MA in Journalism from the University of Hong Kong. He has contributed to the BBC, Euronews, Al-Jazeera and others.