Conversion therapy

Conversion therapy enters Patrick Hazlewood’s story not as a demonstrated cure but as a possibility offered within prison, where treatment and punishment are difficult to separate. In his weekly meetings with psychiatrist Dr R. A. Russell, Patrick says he wants to be cured; the circumstances of that answer, and Russell’s growing candour about the law and the work therapy would require, make the promise of change deeply conditional.

Meaning and Setting

Patrick begins from scepticism. He has never believed psychiatrists could offer any kind of cure, though he has been curious about what visiting one would be like. That distinction matters: he arrives interested in the encounter, not persuaded that his sexuality is an illness that treatment can remove.

The room initially encourages a different expectation. Russell has a fire and a leather office chair, while Patrick is given the familiar wooden kind. Russell notices his disappointment and says he is working on replacing it, observing that a person cannot be expected to talk freely while perched on a school chair. The furniture makes the problem of the session concrete: this is a conversation about private feeling taking place within an institution that confines Patrick.

A painting by Matisse, La Danse, hangs above Russell’s desk. Patrick has seen no art for three months, and its bright colours seem almost obscene in their beauty. The painting does not resolve his situation, but its sudden presence marks the contrast between the limited world of the cell and the room in which Russell asks him to speak.

Patrick’s Stated Wish

Russell asks whether Patrick wants to be cured. Patrick nearly laughs, then checks himself under Russell’s serious gaze. The answer seems easy only when the alternatives are the warm, light room and the cell: Patrick says, “Yes,” because remaining with Russell is preferable to being sent back. His assent is therefore real, but the scene shows how strongly it is shaped by confinement and the immediate conditions of the meeting.

The sessions are to take place once a week. At the next meeting, Russell says Patrick could change, but asks whether he really wants to. Patrick repeats that he wants to be cured. Russell replies, “I’m not sure I believe you.” His doubt distinguishes compliance from conviction: saying yes in a prison interview does not establish that Patrick has made an independent commitment to changing his sexuality.

Russell’s Limits and Candour

Russell does not promise a quick or certain result. He says therapy can help some individuals overcome certain “proclivities,” but describes the work as difficult and prolonged, probably taking years. Patrick answers that he has only six months left. The mismatch between the time therapy might require and the time he has in prison makes the proposal practically uncertain as well as emotionally fraught.

Russell then separates the possibility of therapy from the legal judgment imposed on Patrick. Leaning forward and lowering his voice, he says, “Personally, I think the law is an ass. What two adults get up to in private is their business.” He does not deny that therapy might help if Patrick genuinely wants change; instead, he says that without such a wish, it is not worth the effort. His position leaves the decision with Patrick rather than treating the law’s condemnation as proof that Patrick must be cured.

Significance

The episode refuses a simple account of conversion therapy as either an assured remedy or a treatment Patrick freely chooses. His stated wish is spoken under the pressure of imprisonment, while his earlier scepticism and Russell’s question about sincerity leave its meaning unsettled. The therapy is offered as demanding, lengthy, and conditional, not as a solution that can answer the immediate coercion of the cell.

Patrick thanks Russell for his honesty and jokes that there will be no more fireside chats. The exchange closes the prospect of these meetings without establishing that Patrick has been cured or has changed his mind. Its decisive contrast is between a legal system that punishes private adult intimacy and a psychiatrist who acknowledges that the law is wrong, even as he leaves open the possibility of change.