Should gender dysphoria only be diagnosable in adults?

[aweegc]

There are some diagnoses that can only occur once someone reaches (legal) adulthood.

Given that the majority of children with gender dysphoria desist by age 18, what would be lost by making this a post-18 diagnosis?

I could also see a possibility for there being a paediatric diagnosis, possibly with different criteria, but certainly with different recommendations (watch and wait rather than affirmation, for one).

I'm wondering what there is to gain by diagnosing children with something they normally grow out, developing treatment plans etc, assuming Big Pharma is removed from the equation.

The problem is that children are being diagnosed after one 45 minute consultation.

With any medical or psychological condition there should be no problem with diagnosing children, but the problem is that this has become too political and it's now well known that this is being diagnosed in children that don't have it.

Currently I don't trust the professionals who have all been lobbied. Look at the whistleblowers at the Tavistock and they'll tell you how much influence Mermaids have.

I just simply cannot believe that pressure groups are pushing for this to be diagnosed in more and more children. We saw the childbirth scandal yesterday, in 15 years we will have the scandal over what is happening today, and the NHS will be liable, not the pressure groups.

This is something I feel very strongly about. Yes, children should have access to counselling/psychological assessment etc but I don't think the idea of "transitioning" should even be mentioned until the patient is legally adult.

The focus shouldn't be on diagnosis in children but the fact that 90%+ grow out of it.
They need proper, non affirmation only help and mental health support to get to the actual causes of their dysphoria.

The push for unnecessary drugs and surgery for immature brains and bodies is horrific.

I would put the age cut-off even higher than 18. Diagnosis of gender dysphoria should not be made on children and adolescents, and irreversible treatments should not be started either.

From a paediatric nurse quoted in www.bbc.co.uk › news › stor...Should children with type 2 diabetes be offered a gastric ...

"The brain is very much still under construction until 25 and the last bit to develop is being able to think about long-term consequences, and so that's why with adolescents we often see behaviour that's more about the kind of short-term gain and what's important for me right now.

But if 90% (going with whatsnewpussycats figure -(I thought it was 80%+ - point is that it's very high) grow out of it without intervention, then what point is there in intervention? And doesn't a diagnosis then psychologising something that's a normal part of childhood?

Recognition of it as a possible symptom of something else (ie trauma, ASD) could still continue. But psychologising it as a disorder in and of itself before maturity seems redundant when most people grow out of it anyway.

I say this as someone who lived with it as a teen and has it occasionally now. Had it been made An Issue, I'm not sure it would have solved the problem as it would have meant more attention to it by adults - aka people who knew stuff.

I would put the age cut-off even higher than 18. Diagnosis of gender dysphoria should not be made on children and adolescents, and irreversible treatments should not be started either.

In total agreement. I deleted that from my OP to avoid going off on a tangent. Fully agree that 18 isn't actually adulthood.

It used to be the case that a child would not be diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

They would be diagnosed with gender incongruity- a kind of holding diagnosis while clinicians checked for other issues.

The reason why children suffering from gender incongruity was investigated was because they were in emotional distress.

This distress could be caused by a number of factors including some very serious issues such as sexual abuse or witnessing domestic violence. In some cases it was simply distress caused by parents who had very rigid ideas about what should interest a child.

Either way it was important to give the child psychological support.

NHS says this: (NHS gender dysphoria)
A diagnosis of gender dysphoria in childhood is rare.
Most children who seem confused about their gender identity when young will not continue to feel the same way beyond puberty. Role playing is not unusual in young children.

-- But also this: (NHS body dysmorphia)
People of any age can have BDD, but it's most common in teenagers and young adults. It affects both men and women.

['BDD' is 'Body Dysmorphic Disorder', of course.]

If we deny, as we should, the existence of gender identity as a causal factor in dysphoria (Byrne on gender identity), there seems little to stop us assimilating gender dysphoria to a genre of body dysmorphia.

Of course whether we call it a disorder, a condition, and if the latter, a mental-health condition, is angels-on-pins stuff. What matters is whether and how it is treated. Waiting/careful observation? Counselling? CBT? SSRIs ( In extremis , perhaps, for older children)? Care is needed in allocating treatment.

Whatever is best for children, sterilisation, puberty-blockers, so-called transition in general is not it. That, at any rate, is abundantly clear.

@dolorsit

The reason why children suffering from gender incongruity was investigated was because they were in emotional distress.

This distress could be caused by a number of factors including some very serious issues such as sexual abuse or witnessing domestic violence. In some cases it was simply distress caused by parents who had very rigid ideas about what should interest a child.

Either way it was important to give the child psychological support.

Aah this sounds like it was very sensible. I'm not against kids getting help if it's needed, and this seems like it was a method interested in trying to get to the roof cause, rather than make a symptom into a cause.