Transgender children medically treated risk serious damage - psychiatrist

[BiologyIsReal]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/04/transgender-children-medically-treated-risk-serious-irreversible/

Page 12 of print version. Paraphrase for those who can't access online version.

Dr David Bell, consultant psychiatrist at Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, speaking in a personal capacity in a foreword to a book soon to be published "Transgender children and Young People" said transgender children who undergo medical or surgical treatments risk "serious and irreversible damage".

He accused lobbying groups of silencing debate.

He is a former president of the British Psychoanalytic Society and works in the adult department of the Tavistock Centre where he directs a specialist centre for serious or enduring complex disorders.

He said his involvement in the area of transgender children was prompted by "the sudden exponential growth" of youngsters who "declare themselves to be in the wrong body". There was pressure for such declarations to be immediately accepted without "sufficient investigation for its basis."

He said gender dysphoria was a highly complex problem with many causal pathways:despite this, gender services "tend towards damaging simplification".

"Many services have championed the use of medical and surgical intervention with nowhere near sufficient attention to the serious and irreversible damage this can cause and with very disturbingly superficial attitudes to the issue of consent in children."

He raised concern about those who "refuse to accept the dominant ideological position are often accused of transphobia and had a chilling effect on public debate. This silencing had been remarkably successful, he said, resulting in a simplification of a very complex problem that needed to be understood at both individual and sociocultural levels.

The book, due to be published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, is a collection of essays by clinicians, psychologists and sociologists.

Thanks for that - very good article.

Excellent. Thanks Dr Bell.

Quite a statement. I wonder what the rest of the book will hold.

That's a very powerful read. I know that our politicians are currently 'otherwise occupied' but we must never forget their complete capitulation to the demands of some very dangerous adults and lobby groups who they have enabled to influence the treatment of highly vulnerable children and teenagers. The abandonment of safeguarding for these children by the medical profession, social care and politicians is an immense scandal.

"medical and surgical intervention with nowhere near sufficient attention to the serious and irreversible damage this can cause and with very disturbingly superficial attitudes to the issue of consent in children."

Ouch.

I wish I could dismiss him as a crank/transphobe/dinosaur. Then I could stop worrying to the point of feeling physically sick about the various kids I know who have 'transitioned' (two of them physically by now), and how they might feel if they gradually find it's an irreversible mistake.

It must be nice in some ways to be so convinced that this is the right path that you never consider it could be a hideous mistake for some.

Dr David Bell's opinion is essential to opening up the conspiracy of silence. Even if he is speaking in a personal capacity.

He and a number of others, including Marcus Evans, are using their professional knowledge, experience and expertise to bring a deeper understanding to the psychopathy of transgenderism.

Without this work and analysis, how can we protect our children and young people from the dangers of an ideological driven pathway that champions life changing medical and surgical intervention?

I've pre-ordered the book from Cambridge Scholars.

He is brave. Am glad he has done this.

I see speculation and no proof or evidence to back it up

Which bits do you think are speculative, Sara? Honestly, if you can convince me that kids I've known since they were titchy are very unlikely to regret major surgery in their teens, I'd be genuinely grateful.

For context, these are girls who never claimed they were boys until they got to about 14-17. Two have had double mastectomies. Obviously that's not reversible. Both are taking testosterone, so their speaking voices have changed. Is that permanent or does it reverse if they come off the hormones?

@FernPotts I don’t know really because the article won’t fully load without making payment to the newspaper and I am not paying to read the full article.

It can ruin lives but not in all cases and yes voice changes can be reversed but not everything can

But people taking hormones talons and many do that can be reversed

But there are cases where surgery ruins lives it ruined my life my mental health and my health but this isn’t about me

Both are taking testosterone, so their speaking voices have changed. Is that permanent or does it reverse if they come off the hormones?

This is a permanent change. Coming off the hormones won't affect the voice.

Oh, OK, I thought it was the article you were commenting on but I think you meant previous posters.

The thing is, if it can ruin lives in some cases, surgeons need to know somehow which people will be helped and which hindered, long term.

I really want to know that someone has seriously and thoroughly assessed our friends' children to make sure they're likely not to regret it. I'm especially worried about the one who went private for surgery because the NHS 'were taking forever' (from a teenage viewpoint).

I see, OldCrone. That's such a shame. The hoarse husky croak in place of the usual gleeful shrieking and singing were quite noticeable when we saw them. I hope they feel it's worth it.

This is someone quite close to us and I am trying not to be melodramatic (while thinking 'You've wrecked your perfectly healthy young body for an idea, and your parents paid for it to happen').

@FernPotts I went private to skip the long waiting list and the psychological test was simple

We had to draw a picture of a family with a house and if the psych likes it we passed and could have surgery I wish I was making this up

What we are being told is "best international practice":

•Instant affirmation
•Ban on investigating underlying causes
•Attempts to reconcile child's mind with their body also banned as conversion therapy

The truth is that this is actually a mangled version of the approach developed by the foremost Dutch gender clinic who first pioneered the use of puberty blockers with cross-sex hormones.

They developed a combined approach that absolutely insisted on a) closely exploring any and all underlying issues that may have caused GD and b) an intense process of psychological support aiming to achieve mind-body re-integration.

No patient was moved onto cross-sex hormones until after that approach was exhausted (but they were put on puberty blockers).

Ignoring for a moment that puberty blockers come with a number of serious and unexplored side effects and that there is an ongoing debate around the veracity of the existence of transsexualism in children, this Dutch approach was quite possibly the least harmful to children apart from Watchful Waiting (the previous best international practice approach). Because no child was put on a pathway involving irreversible changes to their bodies without first deeply exploring all avenues available to avoid that outcome.

Abandoning those steps aimed at safeguarding children is downright criminal.

What we are being told is "best international practice"

YY and this is a euphemism.

(Actually means white male fetishist practice born out of America spread to the Anglosphere and now forced on everyone else).

Placemarking

That’s a brilliant piece. We tell people to give up smoking because there is to big a risk to their health, but the TRAs are happy to play lottery with young people’s health. It’s bloody disgusting and I’m glad this expert has the courage to speak out.

Sadly, the concerns of a psychiatrist who has actually worked with these children will be dismissed as part of a right wing media transphobic campaign. Because for reasons unknown, the left wing media isn’t remotely concerned about the medical mistreatment of these children.

I work with kids and it’s expected that we unquestioningly and enthusiastically support the idea of kids wishing to transition. Just today my supervisor was telling me in glowing terms about how happy a kid was when she (supervisor) referred to said kid as Stephen rather than their previous, female, name, and how they “stand straighter” now. Supervisor is, imo, too daft to grasp the many and various problems with all this (medical, emotional, and feminist) so I just said “oh”. I just have no idea how to discuss this with people who can’t see why this sudden rush to trans is odd, damaging to kids (especially girls who seem to make up the majority), and not the best case scenario they seem to think.

The Daily Telegraph is really going for it on the GC front.
Today (page 15) and
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/04/children-put-risk-transgender-books-misrepresent-medical-knowledge/

Honorary senior research fellow Susan Matthews (Roehampton University) criticises a book 'Can I Tell You About Gender Dysphoria' aimed at children over seven.

It's about a child who was "assigned" female "gender" at birth but was "not happy that way". The child says "the best thing about hormone blockers is that if I change my mind then they won't hurt my body".

Ms Matthews said children were being put at risk by transgender guidance books in primary schools that "misrepresent" medical knowledge on puberty blockers.

She said there was no evidence to demonstrate that puberty blockers are fully reversible, or if they cause permanent harm.

Andrew Jame, the books commissioning editor said the information is "not inaccurate and does not misrepresent medical guidance". He said the advice in it was in line with NHS guidance and numerous LBGT charities and organisations. The book was very clear about the age at which young people can access hormones and surgery, as well as the strict procedures for doing so.

At last it seems academics are beginning to question received wisdom.

DON’T TOUCH THAT LINK! Poster is spamming threads with a dodgy link.