Psychological assessment is required because, as Bespin told us the other day, being trans is pretty much a self-diagnosed condition.
The vast majority of medical interventions are in response to observable symptoms, confirmed via objective testing (blood tests, X-rays, MRIs, biopsies, electrocardigrams etc).
My daughter, who is the same age as the newly-out trans-child discussed on another of today’s active topics, was recently taken seriously ill and needed immediate treatment to save her life.
There was no time for any kind of psychological considerations to be made prior to treatment, but we are both now receiving professional support to cope with the after affects of trauma and the ongoing mental stress of coping with long term illness. This was arranged by the children’s hospital while my daughter was still in paediatric ICU.
So, while Ms Green maywell be correct in her assertion that psychological assessments are not routinely* required for children under going ‘cisgender surgeries’, I don’t doubt that if it were offered, it would be enormously beneficial, both before and after the surgery.
- actually, I don’t think she is correct, if I recall correctly both my amputee friends had quite a lot of psychological appointments before they were deemed able to consent to their surgeries (despite both having completely non-functioning limbs that significantly reduced their quality of life) and when I had BRCA testing earlier this year, I had to have several sessions with the genetic counsellor before the blood test was performed, and had I inherited it (I didn’t) I would’ve had to have more counselling before being referred for risk reducing oophorectomy/mastectomy.