Homosexuality; Disease Or Way Of Life? by Edmund Bergler

This 1956 book by psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler argues that homosexuality is a 'curable neurotic disease.' The book includes a chapter specifically titled 'What about lesbians?' and addresses both male and female homosexuality. While the book's perspective is deeply anti-queer (arguing homosexuality is pathological and should be 'cured' through psychoanalysis), it is an important historical document of mid-20th century psychiatric attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. This is relevant to your bibliography as a primary source documenting oppressive medical views that shaped legislation like the Wales Padlock Act and profoundly impacted lesbian lives.

Bergler was described as 'the most important psychoanalytic theorist of homosexuality in the 1950s' and this book significantly influenced the medical establishment's treatment of LGBTQ+ people during this era.