I have to say that is the first time I've seen something which says there is a pattern of psychological breakdown associated with those who are directly affected by someone else's gender identity.
I've said for some time about how your own identity is very much defined by your understanding of your relationships. Eg, being the eldest and only daughter in a family and also having a younger brother. And how changes to this can deeply affect you, eg now being told that your brother is now your sister - and how this affects how you relate to others - eg how do you answer and share life experience with peers in conversation when you are asked seemingly simple and uncontroversial questions like 'do you have any brothers and sisters?' and how this affects how you develop new relationships.
Reading the above article made me think a lot about the formation of identity in its own right and in a more general sense, with the view that the assertion that identity crisis or sudden change of identity or perception of identity by someone you are particularly close to can have profound effects on you - to the point of psychological breakdown.
You don't have to look further than Wikipedia to get a sense of how this is undoubtedly true.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_formation
Reading through this the references to family are repeated
Identities are formed on many levels, micro, meso, macro, and global. The micro level is self definition and relationship to people and issues as seen from a person or individual perspective. The meso level is where our identifies are viewed, formed, and questioned from our immediate communities and/or our families. Macro are the connections among and between individuals, issues, and groups as a view from a national perspective. Lastly, the global level is connections among and between individuals, issues, and groups from a worldwide perspective.
Identity is often described as finite and consisting of separate and distinct parts (family, cultural, personal, professional, etc.), yet according to Parker J. Palmer, it is an ever-evolving core within where our genetics (biology), culture, loved ones, those we cared for, people who have harmed us and people we have harmed, the deeds done (good and ill) to self and others, experiences lived, and choices made come together to form who we are at this moment.
(The whole article I found useful)
And then a separate article on identity crisis.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_crisis
Sometimes individuals face obstacles that may prevent the development of a strong identity. This sort of unresolved crisis leaves individuals struggling to "find themselves". They often seem to have no idea who or what they are, where they belong or where they want to go. They may withdraw from normal life, not taking action or acting as they usually would at work, in their marriage or at school, or be unable to make defining choices about the future. They may even turn to negative activities, such as crime or drugs since from their point of view having a negative identity could be more acceptable than none at all.
On the other side of the spectrum, those who emerge from the adolescent stage of personality development with a strong sense of identity are well equipped to face adulthood with confidence and certainty.
Erikson felt that peers have a strong impact on the development of ego identity during adolescence. He believed that association with negative groups such as cults or fanatics could actually "redistrict" the developing ego during this fragile time. The basic strength that Erikson found should be developed during adolescence is fidelity, which only emerges from a cohesive ego identity. Fidelity is known to encompass sincerity, genuineness and a sense of duty in our relationships with other people.
This is hugely important to understand in an era of social media and the naturally occurring echo chambers that it produces and that teenagers are growing up in. There needs to be a lot of work done on this to put gender identity formation in adolescence into proper context.
Emotional immaturity would also seem to be a real issue and it stands to reason that those with autism or who have been bullied are, of course, more at risk of identity crisis. And into this void you have the cult of gender appearing...
... This isn't rocket science. This is just looking at the same issue outside the box, away from the entire concept of gender on more neutral and general terms and then reflecting back on gender identity. It starts to give a very different perspective and narrative and begs questions of why no one else is looking at the concept of identity from other angles.
It also suggests that 'acceptance without exception' is a deeply flawed concept which fails to understand that identity formation in one individual has a profound effect on others and may well damage their psychological well being too. In this sense the interests of the individual in isolation is profoundly harmful to society and in particular family units. It would indeed suggest that ALL members of a family unit need to be involved in a process of extreme identity change and that all individuals in that unit can experience negative mental health episodes rather than this idea of the trans person being the most vulnerable and the only one at risk of psychological breakdown. The idea that family members should just 'suck it up' is deeply disturbing when you start to scratch the surface. I've talked a lot about power dynamics and how identity change in a family can be totally redrawn in the past and this does also seem to feed into that too.
The lack of proper research and the culture of silence around families who are restricted by fears of upsetting loved ones and patterns of coercive control is appalling. Especially when you consider that article was written in 1998.
I don't know, but I found that article very useful, telling and thought provoking so thanks for posting Tinsel.
The idea of copying also rings very true to me as I've used the metaphor of 'looking in a twisted mirror' as an idea before. My approval was apparently particularly important to my brother according to Mum, and it wouldn't surprise me that my choice of partner was problematic (DH is very stereotypically alpha male and the first thing that seemed to happen when my brother came out was a deliberate unprovoked attempt to attack DH from my brother and his partner, possibly to alienate me from him, which I didn't take well at all and was the spark to destroying the family).
I don't know.
Complex issue which needs looking at much more closely.