{"id":125222,"date":"2022-03-29T11:00:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T10:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/?p=125222"},"modified":"2022-07-21T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T11:00:00","slug":"transgender-mental-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/transgender-mental-illness.htm","title":{"rendered":"‘Transgender Mental Illness\u2019 – Can We End These Myths?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"transgender<\/span>We live in a time when transgender issues are<\/strong> now making the mainstream news. But somehow myths about transgender mental illness still persist. <\/span><\/p>\n

Transgender mental illness is NOT a thing<\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

Mental health is a serious issue in the trans community, but being trans is NOT correlated to mental illness.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cGender non-conformity is not in itself a mental disorder\u201d. So (finally) confirms the latest edition of America\u2019s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders<\/a>, the DSM-5.<\/span><\/p>\n

And no, the very fact that you are outside the traditional ideas of sex and gender<\/strong> does not mean your brain is also somehow wired to have<\/strong> mental health issues<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

People do not suffer a higher risk of mental health issues because they are transgender. But because we as a society persist in creating an unhealthy environment for those living a transgender experience.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But I thought gender dysphoria was a mental illness<\/span><\/h2>\n

Gender dysphoria<\/a> is a mental health condition over \u2018illness\u2019.<\/strong> And means that the difference between the sex you were born not aligning with the gender you know you are is causing you distress<\/a>. As the American Psychiatric Association clarifies:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe presence of gender variance is not the pathology. Dysphoria<\/a> is from the distress caused by the body and mind not aligning and\/or societal marginalisation of gender-variant people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Transgender ‘mental illness’ is officially no more<\/span><\/h2>\n

It is true that being transgender was historically considered a mental health disorder. <\/strong>In America that didn’t change until 2013. This is when the DSM, America’s diagnostic manual referred to all mental health practitioners in the USA, finally changed the term of \u2018gender identity disorder\u2019 to \u2018gender dysphoria\u2019. This put the focus on identity-related distress<\/a> over pathologising identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"transgenderOf course the rest of the world doesn’t rely on the DSM, but the ICD. This is the World Health Organisation\u2019s diagnostic manual. And it’s only in the latest version fully released in 2018, the ICD-11, that\u00a0 we see real changes made. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGender identity disorder”, has been removed<\/strong> from the mental disorders<\/a> section. It has been replaced with \u201cgender incongruence\u2019. Now placed under sexual health<\/a> and not mental disorders, it finally makes it clear it is a health issue not a mental disorder.<\/span><\/p>\n

A brief history of transgender mental illness vs medical condition<\/span><\/h2>\n

The history of transgenderism and mental health has had incredible peaks and valleys.<\/strong> Way back in 1918 there was Magnus Hirschfeld. A German physician, he was working to make it clear that those who had the desire to express a different gender to their defined sex had a medical condition, not a mental illness. And was already offering hormone therapy and sex change operations. Unfortunately much of his research was burned by the Nazis who also destroyed his institute. <\/span><\/p>\n

Over in America, things were slower. But then <\/strong><\/span>American endocrinologist Henry Benjamin published his 1966 book The Transsexual Phenomenon. <\/i>I<\/span>t created support for the idea that those who feel their sex to be discordant from their gender needed access to hormone therapy and surgery, not a \u2018cure\u2019 for mental illness.<\/span><\/p>\n

But then came another valley when a decade later in\u00a0 <\/span>1979 a study that had clear flaws somehow still<\/strong> made an impact. It suggested that surgery didn\u2019t help the psychosocial issues in transgender patients. It led to the closure of America\u2019s first successful gender identity clinic which offered reassignment surgery. And by 1980 \u2018gender identity disorder\u2019 made its way into the DSM.<\/span><\/p>\n

What creates mental health issues? <\/span><\/h2>\n

\"transgenderWhile some researchers have desperately tried to prove that mental health issues are<\/strong> just a brain function, they can’t find that proof. Neither side of the ‘nature vs nurture’ is definitive. T<\/span>he conclusion at the current time is that mental issues come from several contributing factors, which can include both biology but also the environments and experiences we live through.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So a child who<\/strong> has a genetic propensity for depression<\/a> might never experience depression if he has a stable childhood that leads to a strong sense of self<\/a> as an adult. A difficult experience, on the other hand, would trigger it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How does this relate to transgender mental health?<\/h2>\n
\n

The point is that if you experience trauma<\/a> or difficult experiences<\/a>, your mental health is put at risk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yes, transgender issues are at least now something we can talk about in Western<\/strong> countries. But many transgender people still suffer from constant stress<\/a> and trauma, such as:<\/span><\/p>\n