So-called ‘conversion therapy’ involves therapeutic attempts to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity. It is widely considered to be harmful to sexual minorities and there have been calls for it to be banned in the UK. In this paper, we examine whether victims of the practice could bring tort claims against ‘therapists’ for mental harm. Focusing on talking therapies, we assess tort doctrine in the law of negligence, the rule in Wilkinson v Downton, the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and deceit. We conclude that while some forms of conversion therapy will be tortious, others will not and so this area of law may fail to assist many victims of the practice.

所谓的“转化疗法”涉及改变个体性取向或性别认同的治疗尝试。它被广泛认为对性少数群体有害，并且有人呼吁在英国禁止它。在本文中，我们研究了这种做法的受害者是否可以就精神伤害向“治疗师”提出侵权索赔。专注于谈话疗法，我们评估过失法中的侵权学说、威尔金森诉唐顿案中的规则、 1997 年《防止骚扰法》和欺骗。我们得出的结论是，虽然某些形式的转换疗法会是侵权的，但其他形式的则不会，因此该法律领域可能无法帮助该实践的许多受害者。