More funding for better services for confused young people.

Conversion therapy is largely a myth in this country. It originally described (often Christianised) therapy in the US which tried to “convert” people who were unhappy with being gay to being straight. It was outlawed here by all the professional therapy organisations in the 80s. Now, I’m sure these things probably still go on in Bible Belt states in the US, but it hasn’t been any part of reputable trained psychotherapy here for decades, and anyone experiencing gay conversion therapy in this country must be having something very very amateur and irregular done secretly by some kind of unregulated church or similar.

It used to be that people who were old school “transsexuals” actually had a lot of supportive and careful therapy exploring all sorts of aspects of their mental health before and during a traditional “sex change”. But some years ago trans activists decided that any open-minded therapy, and in fact any therapy at all that wasn’t immediately affirming, was akin to gay “conversion” therapy and started terming it as such. This put activist pressure on mental health services to not offer any more the kind of exploratory therapy which used to be standard and in fact would be standard for any similar mental health condition, eg. body dysmorphia. Now, activists call any standard therapy that isn’t immediately “affirming” a version of “conversion therapy” — which it simply isn’t.

Therapy for body dysmorphia doesn’t immediately affirm that yes, the patient needs a nose job to feel better. Nor does therapy for phobias, trauma or eating disorders “affirm” the condition: instead good therapy explores the roots of the condition in a careful, non-judgmental manner. This is what should be standard for gender issues, too. The reports into the Tavistock’s gender clinic for children found that many children were presenting with complex histories of trauma, sexual abuse, family dysfunction and lots of co-morbidities, but that these were all ignored in the rush to “affirm” gender “treatment”. That’s not good. Exploratory therapy should aim at first finding out what is causing the distress, and whether it can be alleviated in ways that as the OP says, do no additional harm.

It’s a real scandal that the non-evidenced activist scaremongering about “conversion therapy” has stopped proper therapy from happening, especially for children. When asked, none of the activist organisations scaremongering about “conversion therapy” ever have any actual evidence — apart from a few unscientific survey responses — that any so-called “conversion therapy” has actually been going on!

That’s not conversion therapy, @Tricho. Maybe you should do some proper reading about psychological therapy rather than just believing gender stuff off the internet?

No. You have that totally backwards.

I don’t think that mental health services are the answer and someone enforcing the idea that something is wrong with the way you are thinking about your circumstances isn’t helpful either.
Deprived areas, poverty , and generational trauma are some of the fundamental main things that need to be addressed before the other things. It will probably include a home that isn’t so comfortable to be in, an area that isn’t nice to be in, lack of services, exclusion from activities, not the best diet, etc. I think anyone would feel ill in those circumstances

Hiya

You've just described conversion therapy which is a big no no, friend!

Hth x

I hope you get in the queue for a prescription when they do.

Would you also support gastric bands for anorexics?

Giving people cross sex hormones and surgery because they don't conform to sexist stereotypes is the only "conversion therapy" in this scenario.

I think it would really help if teenagers didn’t have such unfettered access to the internet and internet communities - and instead were able to spend time in-person in real life exploring other hobbit and interests.

That’s where they’re getting these ideas from in the first place.

Er, I asked first. @HerNeighbourTotoro said 'therapy will not fix the problem' and I'd like to know the evidence base for that statement. So far it's 'two people on a message board think so'.

Just because people think something is true, doesn't make it true.

They might think there's something wrong with their body, they might really believe it, but they're wrong.

Health care services should not be lying to them and harming them.

We don't give people health care based on what they think they need. We give it to them based on actual assessed and proven clinical need.

Im saying people who are trans are not a little bit lost and 'therapy' will not 'fix' the problem. Their bodies are not 'perfectly normal' in their eyes and it's a super thick and patronising thing to say.
Hope one day someone invites pills for stupidity.

This!

What's your evidence for the contrary?

Are you saying that the only effective therapy is based on physical interventions? What evidence base is there for that?

No I’d rather the priority was ED services. It’s massively underfunded and leads to death. What families are having to go through is appalling.