Charles Socarides

Who was Charles Socarides?

Charles W. Socarides was an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, physician, educator and author. He was born in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Socarides focused much of his career on the study of homosexuality, which he believed can be altered. He helped found the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality in 1992 and worked extensively with the organization until his death. He did not consider the underlying desires of homosexuality to be immoral, stating that "Once my patients have achieved an insight into these dynamics – and realized there is no moral fault involved in their longtime and mysterious need – they have moved rather quickly on the road to recovery."

As a 1995 New York Times profile put it, "Socarides offered the closest thing to hope that many gay people had in the 1960s: the prospect of a cure. Rather than brand them as immoral or regard them as criminal, Socarides told gay people that they suffered from an illness whose effects could be reversed."