Quite a good paper from Australia on Gender Dysphoria

Thanks for answering @blackwavecoming: really glad it's all coming together for you and your DC.

Those employed at Sydney Children’s Westmead, as with any paediatric healthcare, have a Duty of Care and Child Protection responsibilities. In some cases (as described) children's distress may indicate sexual, emotional abuse and/or neglect.

(extracts)
5.4.2. The complex relationship between gender dysphoria and sexual abuse
One of the first clinical challenges that emerged via a number of cases was the complex relationship between gender dysphoria and sexual abuse. The two amalgam cases outlined below highlight the core questions that we asked ourselves: were the children’s negative feelings toward their bodies related to gender dysphoria or were they a manifestation of past trauma in the context of past sexual abuse? And how were these factors to be disentangled?

Avery was an adolescent male (XY chromosomes) in the early stages of puberty who experienced substantial feelings of disgust and distress when looking at, touching, or washing the genitals. Avery was clear that he did not want to mature into a man, but he was not clear about his subjective sense of gender. Avery had been sexually abused as a young prepubertal boy, and the abuse had involved inappropriate touching of the genitals.

Jordan was an adolescent female (XX chromosomes) who identified as a boy. Jordan was adamant that he wanted male sex hormones and to surgically remove his breasts. Jordan was not interested in lower surgery. Jordan had experienced puberty early, and as a school-aged child, Jordan had been sexually abused by a neighbor over a long period of time. The touching of Jordan’s breasts had been a key element of the abuse. (continues)

5.4.6. Gender dysphoria and the agendas of parents
... A further potential complication is that the child can be triangulated into marital conflict between the parents, acted out via the issue of gender dysphoria. Understanding such cases within family systems and child protection frameworks, and possibly even calling in protection services, may sometimes be necessary. In yet another scenario, it becomes clear that whatever particular problems or conflicts the child may be experiencing, the motivation for engaging with the Gender Service and seeking medical intervention comes from the parent(s), not the child. In such cases, the multidisciplinary team needs to ensure that the child’s voice is heard and heard clearly. (continues)

(cited)
The following is an excerpt from a 2019 letter that Kirsty Entwistle, a clinical psychologist who previously worked at the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) in Leeds, wrote to Polly Carmichael, Director of the GIDS at the Tavistock Clinic.

...I also felt that [we were seeing] an overrepresentation of the young people who were living in poverty. I had a young person whose family were living within such extreme financial constraints that he considered it a treat to buy a can of pop. I also had another young person who was living in a very complex and unstable arrangement who arrived to sessions in a poor state of hygiene and said that there wasn’t money for hygiene products. How is it ethical to undertake a gender identity assessment with the view to a medical pathway when there are children and young people do not have their most basic needs met?^ (Entwistle, July 19 2019)

I am so glad that other academics are finding the courage to speak out. I wish I was brave.

Interesting re Westmead. We have a connection there; it's not anti-child dysphoria sufferers in any way, shape or form. This isn't conversion therapy outlier stuff - this is coming from a reputable hospital treating many gender dysphoric children.

This has been published by a group of professionals: psychiatrists, psychologists, endocrinologists and ethics specialists from one of the best children’s hospitals in the world, Sydney Children’s Westmead.

Lols - you mean all the "armchair" experts.

I know I am on the right side when I look at the two groups of "armchair" experts. It's a generalisation but..

On the one hand you have mature women who understand kids having their spent their lives caring or working with children and watching them develop as a mother/grandmother/teacher/nurse etc etc

On the other you have young men in their 20s with blue hair who went to uni and read some queer theory.

Which of the groups do you think is more informed and which is most likely to care passionately about the welfare of children?

It will be interesting to see the in-depth analysis of the evidence base informing WPATH's judgements when it emerges (as not doubt it shall eventually).

Michael Biggs Dept of Sociology, University of Oxford
Published by Transgender Trend
(22 July 2019)
'Tavistock’s Experiment with Puberty Blockers: an Update'
(extract)
Five years ago, in 2014, Carmichael told the Mail on Sunday that the study demonstrated favourable outcomes: ‘Now we’ve done the study and the results thus far have been positive we’ve decided to continue with it’ (italics added). She even appeared in a BBC television programme – ‘I Am Leo’, aimed at audiences aged 6 to 12 – to promote the benefits of GnRHa drugs. (See our analysis of the programme here).

The Tavistock’s statement says remarkably little about the experiment’s outcomes. It cites Carmichael and Viner’s presentation to the 2014 World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) conference showing ‘there was no overall improvement in mood or psychological wellbeing using standardized psychological measures’ (italics added). This finding was presented in February 2014, but just four months later Carmichael claimed ‘the results thus far have been positive’. I cannot find slides from this 2014 presentation, but Carmichael’s presentation to the 2016 WPATH conference apparently recycles the same finding. It also acknowledges that ‘Natal girls showed an increase in internalising problems from t0 to t1 [after 12 months on GnRHa] as reported by their parents’ (italics added). This negative outcome is omitted from the Tavistock’s statement." (continues)

www.transgendertrend.com/tavistock-experiment-puberty-blockers-update/

Wow this is a really important article, thank you for posting. Will keep it in my pocket for whenever I may become brave enough to put my head above the parapet at work.

Thanks @blackwavecoming. Very helpful. Can i ask what the outcome for you was?

Those who actually have a medical and mental health background, the WPATH, have clearly stated that gender dysphoria is not a mental illness.

I wonder how many WPATH members actually have this sort of background? Membership is open to people from quite a wide range of disciplines. I think you'll find that many people here would also qualify.

Full professional membership is available to professionals working in disciplines such as medicine, psychology, law, social work, counseling, psychotherapy, nursing, family studies, sociology, anthropology, speech and voice therapy and sexology. Full membership costs $225 (US) per year, and carries voting privileges within the Association.

wpath.org/MembershipInfo

Those who actually have a medical and mental health background, the WPATH, have clearly stated that gender dysphoria is not a mental illness.

I think I will accept their informed judgement.

WPATH (and US Endocrine Society) will be proven not to be a reliable evidence-based source.

Medscape (long read article)
April 26, 2021
'Transgender Teens: Is the Tide Starting to Turn?'
Becky McCall and Lisa Nainggolan
(extract)
Endocrine Society Guidelines Based on One Study
"Safer serves on the Standards of Care revision committee for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). WPATH's most recent standards of care, issued in 2012, state: "Adolescents may be eligible to begin feminizing/masculinizing hormone therapy, preferably with parental consent. In many countries, 16-year-olds are legal adults for medical decision-making and do not require parental consent." They add: "Hormone therapy should be provided only to those who are legally able to provide informed consent. This includes people who have been declared by a court to be emancipated minors."

Safe is also a co-author of the Endocrine Society's 2017 guidelines for treating youth confused about their gender. These guidelines were formally presented at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in March 2018.

Malone was there.

"At this conference, the Endocrine Society — a highly respected organization — rolled out a set of guidelines for kids that essentially said, 'Your job as endocrinologists is to medically affirm [gender dysphoric] adolescents with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones,'" he tells Medscape.

Malone says he was astounded when he first heard the guidelines, but immediately assumed, "There must have been a massive change in the landscape, some landmark study that I missed somehow, some stunning piece of evidence that says, 'Psychotherapy is out and affirmation is in.' " But the evidence simply wasn't there, he says.

The recommendations are based on a single uncontrolled study out of the Netherlands (the so-called 'Dutch' study, published in 2014 ), which Malone says was of low quality." (continues)
www.medscape.com/viewarticle/949842?src=soc_tw_share#vp_6

Those who actually have a medical and mental health background, the WPATH, have clearly stated that gender dysphoria is not a mental illness.

I think I will accept their informed judgement.

BlackWaveComing and all best wishes for you and your family's recovery.

1. Find an adolescent psychiatrist who practises psychotherapy.

1. Find out if they are open to psychotherapeutic exploration of gender and any other issues. You can do this through an initial interview.

1. Does the practitioner take a full developmental history? Do they speak alone to you, and alone to the child? Are they open to hearing your concerns? The child's concerns? Again, are they prepared to engage with the child in psychotherapy? Do they treat a diagnosis of dysphoria as the beginning of the therapeutic exploration, rather than the end? Most importantly, is the fit between therapist and child such that child will go to therapy!

1. Borrow $ to pay for the weekly therapy. Get your own therapy. Find a GC therapist you can trust. You are likely part of your child's underlying distress, and you also need support for yourself. Explicitly encourage child to share whatever pieces of family history they need to.

1. Continue to engage in therapy (both of you). At home, allow child to dress, have hair etc as they wish. Use reality based language. Connect with child on non-gender interests. Do not hyper-focus on gender in any direction, for or against.

1. Let therapy take its course. Allow/encourage treatment of co-morbidities. Borrow more $ to pay for it all.

1. All along, assess the role of your child's psychotherapist. Are they truly allowing exploration of issues? Is your child's distress improving or more tolerable? Are they functioning better? Ruminating on gender less? Engaging in offline life in fulfilling ways? Change psych if need be.

1. Hope it's going to be ok, one way or the other.

Unfortunately from the start those who chose to specialise in children's 'gender identity' appeared unskilled/disinterested in recognising and assessing the influence of family and environment, preferring instead to be 'fascinated' by the child and the expression of their distress whilst ignoring established child development knowledge.

The developmental stories told by the children and their families highlighted high rates of adverse childhood experiences, with family conflict (65.8%), parental mental illness (63.3%), loss of important figures via separation (59.5%), and bullying (54.4%) being most common.

I've never seen statistics on family background before.

Its more than a chink. The two sections quoted identify the serious risks and harms done to children by this iatrogenic medical/deficit model of 'gender identity' treatment.

Another chink in affirmation model's armour.

Wow. This is fantastic to read.

I truly hope the authors agave support when the inevitable backlash is unleashed.

Brilliant paper - congratulations to the authors for their work and their courage.

Second the request to @blackwave to describe how and what she did to obtain help pls.