2024-07-06 18:43:24
The head of the center admits that the specialists are not only surprised, but also deeply offended, and the workplace of A. Alekseičikos-Kirinov is already taking appropriate actions.
Chairwoman of the LGBTQIA+ Psychology Group of the Lithuanian Psychological Union, psychologist-psychotherapist dr. Juliana Lozovska said that the statements of a specialist who has been working as a psychiatrist for more than one decade hurt not only the LGBT community, but also women, and the practices that A. Alekseičikas-Kirinovas is still talking about today would be time to condemn.
The ethics commission will decide the fate
We remind you that psychiatrist A. Alekseičikas-Kirinovas gave an interview to Rasa Navickaita, Doctor of Comparative Gender Studies last August, who sought to find out about the experiences of homosexual people and the manifestations of homophobia in the Soviet era. It was recently published in the culture magazine Šiaurės Atėnai.
The long-time specialist currently heads the Border States Department. In the interview, he talked about the methods of treating homosexuality several decades ago, indicated that he provided help to people confidentially, and treated homosexuals “by means of hypnosis and persuasion.”
“But, you know, there was such a system that … you may have even heard, there was such a slogan that ‘There is no sex in the Soviet Union.’ Yes?.. That’s what I used to say (to patients – RN) that “you are underdeveloped”. Others developed, and you were modest, timid…” – this is what A. Alekseičikas-Kirinovas said about homosexual people, adding that this is why people still come to him now.
This is just one of the very critically evaluated thoughts of the psychiatrist.
According to the director of the capital’s mental health center, Martynas Marcinkevičius, the issue of A. Alekseičikas-Kirinov is currently being decided by the ethics commission – after its conclusions, it will become clear whether the psychiatrist who has been working at the institution for more than 50 years can still continue consultations.
“The hospital evaluates it negatively, of course, and we made it clear right away in a statement on our website that it has nothing to do with the official position of the hospital or the opinion of colleagues.
We once again discussed this issue at a joint meeting of psychiatrists and psychologists, and all colleagues view it very negatively and feel in a certain sense offended by such irrelevant statements that harm both the reputation of the institution and the general reputation of mental health specialists. It’s sad,” said M. Marcinkevičius in the “Question of the Day” program of “Žiniai Radio”.
“Currently, this issue is submitted to the ethics commission for consideration,” reported the head of the Vilnius City Mental Health Center.
According to M. Marcinkevičius, the fate of A. Alekseičikos-Kirinov, who incurred the wrath of the LGBT community and part of society, will become clear after the commission’s conclusions.
“The opinion of colleagues is actually very negative, but there are certain official legal procedures, so we will maintain them and then we will see what the decision will be,” explained the specialist.
When asked whether, in the hospital’s opinion, the views held by this psychiatrist could have had a negative influence on his work, M. Marcinkevičius emphasized that no conversion practices are really applied at the center today.
“A person has been working in the hospital for more than 50 years. There’s been a lot of history there, but I can assure you that there is absolutely no conversion therapy or any other type of treatment at the facility, and homosexuality is not considered a disease or a disorder.
Man does not work alone anywhere, and nowhere does he directly say that he applies some kind of treatment methods – it was more of a historical perspective, because, as I mentioned, man has been working for more than 50 years, and it is already the case that all over the world, no only in Lithuania, it was once considered a disease.
But certainly during the last 20-30 years of independence, this did not happen either in our hospital, or probably somewhere else in Lithuania,” emphasized the director of the Vilnius City Mental Health Center.
There are more warnings
The staff of the center and he himself have not yet had to hear feedback from patients specifically about A. Alekseičiks-Kirinov’s views on sexual orientation.
“It was very surprising. (…) Colleagues really feel not only surprised, but also hurt, and that’s how we all feel – both me, as a psychiatrist doctor, and the administration, because it’s true that Dr. Alekseičik’s views were often not the most modern, but because of homosexuality, he not only he had never spoken out publicly, but also inside the institution, he had never touched this topic publicly,” recalled M. Marcinkevičius.
“News and a certain shock”, – the psychiatrist described his emotions after reading the article.
Although the hospital has not received any negative feedback from patients about the behavior of A.Alekseichik-Kirinov, the head of the center confirmed that the psychiatrist has several warnings.
“There were certain things due to other ethical violations, the doctor has warnings, but it was definitely not related to the topic of sexual orientation,” said M. Marcinkevičius, adding that the long-time employee received attention due to improper communication with colleagues.
Chairwoman of the LGBTQIA+ Psychology Group of the Lithuanian Psychological Union, psychologist-psychotherapist dr. J. Lozovska, for her part, considered that the thoughts of A. Alekseičiks-Kirinov are basically both news and not news, because in Lithuania we hear various statements regarding the LGBT community and sexual orientation, and research shows that homophobia is still very strong in Lithuania.
According to J. Lozovska, when it comes from the lips of a psychiatrist – a person who has authority – it is even more shocking.
“It’s not always enough that patients judge well, because patients are in a power relationship where the doctor has the power and says what he says is right and wrong, and patients often accept that,” said the interviewee.
Humiliating not only the LGBT community?
According to the psychologist-psychotherapist, the problem with these statements consists of several levels.
“On the one hand, it is the speech itself, but there is a certain behavior behind it. We didn’t see the behavior, but the doctor talks about it himself, and we hear that the doctor sees homosexuality as a disorder that needs to be treated, when homosexuality is considered a normal variation of sexual orientation. (…)
The management of the center has expressed that it distances itself from these provisions, but leaves room for freedom of speech. In my view, freedom of speech ends where the doctor-patient relationship begins, so doctors cannot base themselves on their personal preferences, but must base themselves on research-based practices.
Undoubtedly, changing sexual orientation took place during the Soviet era, but now would be the time to distance ourselves from it and condemn what some specialist communities are doing,” J. Lozovska taught.
It is true, according to the chairwoman of the LGBTQIA+ Psychology Group of the Lithuanian Psychological Union, A. Alekseičikas-Kirinovas humiliates not only homosexuals, but also women with his expressed thoughts.
“Sexualizing them, defining a woman’s worth through her body, appearance, breasts, how a woman should look to be a real woman. I really would not want female patients and not only to be exposed to such provisions in the doctor’s office”, said the specialist.
The organization she represents has already distributed a letter that draws attention not only to this particular situation, but also to the need to ban such mentioned practices.
“This is a message to all professionals, as well as the LGBT community, that you are safe, and to the public that such things are unacceptable,” noted J. Lozovska.
The methods never impressed
The words of Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius, a long-time psychiatrist, member of the Seimas, representative of the Freedom Party and chairman of the Human Rights Committee, were not too surprising.
After reading the article in the “Šiaurės Atėnė” magazine, he testified that he first thought that he was reading a sketch from a film or play script, and then he thought that such a person still works in an institution supported by the state budget and advises people.
“Because we (have heard) similar statements from other persons presenting themselves as mental health professionals.” One such example is Gintautas Vaitoška, who constantly articulates the line that homosexuality is some kind of disease.
Perhaps there was no surprise here, but it is very good that this conversation is taking place, because it is obvious that there is something to talk about”, explained the representative of the Freedom Party.
The politician himself said that he had not encountered discrimination in the health care system, but he had heard of many such situations.
“Because quite a lot of LGBT people approach me, and after this article I received personal testimonies from different health care institutions, where people belonging to the LGBT community very clearly state that their sexual orientation or gender identity was pathologized,” said TVRaskevičius.
For his part, Seimas conservative, child psychiatrist Linas Slušnys pointed out that he had known about A. Alekseičiks-Kirinov’s treatment methods for a long time, and they were never acceptable to him.
“The methods were known because I have been to his seminar – I was never impressed by his methods, because this is a methodology that, in jargon, when translated from Russian, would be the so-called translational psychiatry – a lot forces such drastic methods, sometimes even, I would say, a big performance making a person to make certain changes.
Whether it’s good or bad, I wouldn’t judge, because sometimes it might have helped someone, but such a drastic way of change never appealed to me, so I didn’t intend to go in that direction or be in it.
I knew these methods, I had seen them, but I was never impressed by this person’s methods or directions”, admitted L.Slušnys.
2024-07-06 18:43:24