Study supporting psychotherapy for gender dysphoria

[Shedbuilder]

Just came across this while following a couple of threads on Twitter. Looks as if it could be useful/ important. The title is One Size Does Not Fit All: In Support of Psychotherapy for Gender Dysphoria. On a very quick reading it seems to undercut the idea that the only and best thing to do for those who present with gender dysphoria is to affirm them:

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-020-01844-2

I wonder if someone here could add it to our growing archive or library of scientific evidence.

I haven't time to read it now but sounds positive.

Somewhere else someond posted about the case of a man who took a drug for something else (?) and it had the effect of completely extinguishing the feeling in his head that he was a woman.

It was a drug prescription for addiction I recall.

thanks escape. You see I just think that's fascinating. I think a medication like that should be being explored .

The problem is people who work in this area (therapy of all kinds) are no longer permitted to explore this idea, the gender affirmation ideology has taken over all of academia.

From the paper:

Arguably, even more problematic than the flawed analysis itself is the simplistic “affirmation” versus “conversion” binary ... The notion that all therapy interventions for GD can be categorically classified into this simplistic binary betrays a misunderstanding of the complexity of psychotherapy. At best, this blunt classification overlooks a wide range of ethical and essential forms of agenda-free psychotherapy that do not fit into such a binary; at worst, it effectively mis-categorizes ethical psychotherapies that do not fit the “affirmation” descriptor as conversion therapies. Stigmatizing non-“affirmative” psychotherapy for GD as “conversion” will reduce access to treatment alternatives for patients seeking non-biomedical solutions to their distress.

This means that therapists who are doing their job well by simply exploring clients' thoughts & feelings about their 'gender identity' can be accused of conversion therapy. It makes non-defensive therapy impossible.

@Antibles

I haven't time to read it now but sounds positive.

Somewhere else someond posted about the case of a man who took a drug for something else (?) and it had the effect of completely extinguishing the feeling in his head that he was a woman.

I vaguely recall this, too. Wasn't it the one that is also used to support smoking cessation and relief from obsessions?

Sounds an awful lot like conversion therapy to me.

Nobody is forcing me back into trousers.

Im very keen to hear about this drug that stopped gender dysphoria!?!

No one wants to.

Do you really still not get it, Milad? Or are you being deliberately obtuse? No one here cares whether you wear trousers or skirts. No one here is bothered which stereotypes you wish to follow, or which stereotypes feel good to you. Love your best life.

But to deny people the opportunity to explore their feelings, to identify the cause of their distress, to improve their chances of coping well with their situation, is cruel. It denies them the opportunity to live their best life.

@MiladyRenata

Sounds an awful lot like conversion therapy to me.

Nobody is forcing me back into trousers.

I've heard some daft statements regarding what a woman is, but this one beats all

Surely any treatment that ultimately treats each aspect of the distress as needed is the best for that person. I am shocked to hear any adult who thinks that affirming only is the best treatment for individuals with complex health issues. I would think anyone advocating for this has a clearly biased agenda.

At the moment I am hearing all about a group of my daughter’s friends who are identifying out of being young women. Each of them has significant mental health issues and without a doubt each one’s mental health has deteriorated dramatically after they started identifying as NB or trans. Affirming them is not helping them at all as they are not receiving any other treatment.

How can treating these other needs be considered conversion therapy?

@JellySlice

No one wants to.

Do you really still not get it, Milad? Or are you being deliberately obtuse? No one here cares whether you wear trousers or skirts. No one here is bothered which stereotypes you wish to follow, or which stereotypes feel good to you. Love your best life.

But to deny people the opportunity to explore their feelings, to identify the cause of their distress, to improve their chances of coping well with their situation, is cruel. It denies them the opportunity to live their best life.

This ^^ - how does it go again? ‘dress however you please ....’

The net for diagnosing gender dysphoria was ‘previously’ cast so wide by certain organisations that it is inevitable that many people were caught up in it that arguably shouldn’t have been.

Would you deny these people a range of options in their treatment for their distress by calling everything except affirmation ‘conversion therapy’?

In any case the affirmation/medical transition approach seems to be failing the vast majority as the corrected study in America showed little or no improvement in outcome for patients.
Why would you deny other people a chance to heal and live their best lives?

So to clarify - there could potentially be something (totally theoretically at this point of course) that wipes out any feelings of "gender dysphoria", would make you completely happy and comfortable in your own skin ... and that's just a hard no, is it?

Because as a woman with another kind of body dysphoria, I can tell you, I'd swallow the pill, fast.

Its bizarre how controversial psychotherapy is

I mean i dont see what harm therapy could do even to mentally healthy patients i mean whats the worst that can happen.

Why ve against something that would either help or do nothing with no harm caused..

What are they afraid of?

What are they afraid of?

An identity they have built around a belief. One where questioning that basic of that identity could easily mean losing access to that community. Why? Because it seems that some of these communities are intolerant of any nuance outside of that which is 100% affirming.

Because it seems that some of these communities are intolerant of any nuance outside of that which is 100% affirming

That wouldn't matter though would it...I mean if no one had ended up cut off from their friends or family...they'd have someone to fall back on wouldn't they?

That wouldn't matter though would it...I mean if no one had ended up cut off from their friends or family...they'd have someone to fall back on wouldn't they

There is plenty wrong with the all or nothing approach on many levels.

One has to continually ask the question, who benefits really from calling a treatment that deals with the source/s of distress conversion theory?

And who benefits from hand waving it as something so simple as dictating what someone wears? No one reading this buys into that shit.

Yes i think in any other circumstances losing family members to online friends and support groups at the expense of real people would be a cause if concern.

I mean even the most time consuming hobbies theres still room for exploring options..

If dysphoric trans people are at risk of suicide, surely mental health based treatment is a good thing?

You would think.

I mean everyone blames not being seen/treated as the cause but the 2 that made the news were in fact being or had been medicated.

What harm can therapy actually do.

What are the differences between body dysmorphia and gender dysphoria and how they are treated?

Considering various 'detransitioners' shows that the 'affirmation' followed by medicalisation route can truly be 'conversion therapy'.

Classic projection.

The Baroness has tweeted a comment on this twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1319617359552958466?s=20