Is being trans a 'disease'/mental health issue?

[SolveMyPrombles]

I'm asking on this board for deliberate considered responses so please do share your thoughts.

A lady on a local group has described being trans as a mental illness that should be treated with compassion not pandered to because it's a disease.

Looking into it more deeply I believe she's wrong and there is no current diagnostic manual that agrees with her take.

What do you think?

It's my belief that if people were offered proper psychiatric/psychological support when they first experience issues, then many would finish up fully accepting the body and sex that they were born into.

Instead of that those people get no meaningful mental health support, simply affirmation. If you add to that the immense support, acceptance, celebration and welcome that the trans community gives to anyone joining it, then you can see that the benefits all push people who feel at odds with themselves in the direction of transitioning.

I don't include in this the men who obtain sexual satisfaction from transitioning, I believe that they are an entirely different group altogether.

I also don't include the people who were raised by homophobic parents, I feel there is a completely different thing going on there as well.

Not saying this is the case here but for a long time gender dysphoria was diagnosed as a "mental illness".

And what was known as gender dysphoria is not in any way what modern trans activists claim which is about an identity.

As usual the trans dominant trans narrative has stopped any rational discussion.

And this is a deliberate tactic.

It is not a mental illness because the brain is functioning perfectly normally,

A brain that encourages that heavy damage be done to the rest of the body can't be said to "function perfectly normally".

it's just part of its software is programmed for different hardware, if that makes sense.

It doesn't make sense to me. What would be the hardware in a brain? What would be the software?

I see it as similar to being gay. It's simply something you are, without a choice. In that society and biology to some extent see heterosexual attraction as the norm so anything else is abnormal aka mental illness.

I agree there are some predatory men who use it as an excuse to violate women only spaces. But the trans people I've known (men and women) are not remotely interested in taking up other people's spaces. If anything they shrink into themselves to try and be as irrelevant as possible so they can just go about their lives without bothering people. I'm not saying that's the case with all trans people and we know very clearly about criminally intented predominantly men who want to violate women only spaces. But I don't think they're mentally unwell. They simply are transmen or transwomen.

I agree it's a very different way of looking at one's body than the norm. But the spectrum of human experience is so wide ranging that to classify them as mentally unwell treats them as homosexuals were treated in years gone by.

ie trans activists hijacked the alienation many feel about their body particularly around the time of puberty.

Any male person who demands (as in expects or asks) any other person to act as if they believe that male person is in any way female, even just using female language as a reference to their identity, is not just shrinking into themselves and just ‘living their lives’ though.

The brain is the software, the body is the hardware. This isn't pulled out of nowhere, this is supported by multiple studies that show trans people's brains differ from cis people's in the parts that deal with self-image and self-perception, you can google if you actually have a shred of good faith interest.

Transition isn't about damaging the body; change isn't damage, especially not if the person who lives in that body doesn't perceive it as such (and their opinion counts above yours, I'm afraid). I'm reminded of the words of a trans man friend of mine who said that when he started taking testosterone it felt like coming home to his body for the first time ever in his life.

The brain is the software, the body is the hardware.

The brain is an integral part of the body; it's a part of the hardware.

this is supported by multiple studies that show trans people's brains differ from cis people's in the parts that deal with self-image and self-perception,

Dysfuntional brain, yes.

you can google if you actually have a shred of good faith interest.

I don't need to: I live it every day. That's how I know for sure that at least in my case, it's most definitely a brain disorder.

Transition isn't about damaging the body; change isn't damage, especially not if the person who lives in that body doesn't perceive it as such

Yeah, well, I still have to live with the negative medical consequences of the choices I made (ie. damage), no matter how happy I may be about other positive-to-me consequences those "changes" had.

Trans is an idea, nothing more.

There are a variety of people who believe in this idea.

Some of those people have mental distress.

Some of that is due to a form of body dysmorphia called gender dysphoria.

Others have trauma, neurodivergence and other issues.

However it doesn't apply to everyone who believes in the idea - some believe for other reasons.

Not as such.

There are mental illnesses, personality disorders, etc, conditions like autism.

'Being trans" is one way that our culture socially constructs those kinds of problems.

trans people's brains differ from cis people's in the parts that deal with self-image and self-perception, you can google if you actually have a shred of good faith interest.

Putting aside the nonsense that is 'cis', anorexic brains also different from non anorexic in the parts that deal with self image/perception. No one in their right mind doesn't think anorexia is a serious mental health issue. Imo, trans is in the same category.

The trans lobby worked very hard to have gender dysphoris removed as a reason for being trans, which is something that trans sexuals disagree with.

As for brains being "gendered" how has this even become a thing again? there were many studies to disprove this when there was the whole thing about male and female brain.

Or is this new discovery something totally different?

I think it’s a mixture of problems. Lots of evidence pointing to autism, body dysmorphia and eating disorders and yes largely appears to be a mental health issue but isn’t regarded as one.
I also think ( which I’ll probably be flamed for) if you took the majority of trans people in the world you’d find some kind of childhood trauma/ sexual abuse in there too.

I really think the whole idea gets too much bandwith.

Those who believe in it, can carry on.

Those who don't should feel free to ignore the whole shebang and be clear that one person's belief does not confer any responsibilities to another person.

I personally think religion and belief needs to stay in the personal sphere and not enter the public sphere in the way it currently does.

Personally I consider it to be similar to other body dysmorphia illnesses. I think it is akin to anorexia. I’d be interested if anorexia numbers of teen girls have gone down as trans identification of teens up.
I believe it needs mental health treatment and yes compassion but not agreement with the patient. For example for a size 4 teen who feels they are fat, we wouldn’t prescribe harmful laxatives because it will alleviate their distress at being ‘fat’. The kind thing is to support them to gain weight and address the reasons behind their feelings even if this temporarily makes them feel worse.

Not buying it to explain the 4000% increase in girls claiming to be trans. This is social contagion, a rejection of the sexualised objectification of girls or sexual trauma.

Are you saying a head CT of a transperson will be different to a non transperson?

And a large number are also autistic.

I care about actual science @Zoonosis but what you're saying sounds like a whole load of pseudoscientific bunkum.

I would be interested in reviewing the research that you are talking about though - please link.

My best guess would be if someone actually genuinely believes they are the opposite sex then they have a mental health issue (I don’t believe there are many of these people) vs someone feels that they should be the opposite sex and plays out stereotypes to try to get other people to go along with their wants but knows really what sex they are when it comes to going for a smear or a prostate check (the majority of trans people) is not a mental health issue, it’s just ‘personality’

There are people who claim they genuinely believe that if you decide you are the opposite sex, your dna changes!

I say claim they genuinely believe it because I am clinging to the hope that nobody is actually that stupid.

Well this isn't true. Loads of 'trans' kids grow out of it.

The cause wasn't some genetic factor or anything going wrong in the womb, it was vulnerable kids at one of the most impressionable times of their lives being told that their feelings of unhappiness and dissatisfaction with themselves was because there was something wrong with them (wrong body) and being told the cure (transition).

Gay people don't need treatment so any comparison there is flawed.

Also 'trans' is not just one thing so we can't judge all of them the same way.

Teenage girls wanting to be boys is mostly them running away from being a girl in a sexist society. Girls used to suffer through the adjustment and become women, but now are offered a way to run away from reality. Some may have a real body dysphoria thing going on and that would be mental illness. So two types there.

It's less clear what teenage boys get out of it - aside from getting to see naked teenage girls in changing rooms - but often I notice a parent in the background explaining that 'she' always knew 'she' was a girl from the age of 2.

Some boys may struggle with puberty, but it's not a big deal for us as it is for girls.

There may be some adult men who find their own genitals distressing, but they must be rare as most seem eager to talk about their penis and show it to women. Still those who do will have a mental illness which can probably be treated with therapy.

That means at least two significantly types of trans-identifying men. Probably several more as some are gay and looking for a relationship with a man who will treat them as a woman. Not easy since most gay men would find even the attempt to look like a woman a deal breaker.

Then there are men who find the thought of having a 'female' body and dressing it up, to be arousing. So a fetish rather than a mental illness and probably not distressing at all.

So a lifestyle choice for many or a fetish and a mental illness for what is probably a tiny subset of trans.

Teenage boys may be drawn to gender ideology for several reasons.

They have been fed stereotypes about being 'manly' and don't feel this way - therefore they think they are wrong, exacerbated if they are neurodivergent or come from a family that believes in a rigid form of masculinity.

They are gay, but carry internal homophobia, often from family or cultural group which means they cannot acknowledge this - for some religious groups being 'trans' is more acceptable than being gay.

They enjoy fashion and experimenting with style and are attracted to a wide variety of clothing, some of which is viewed as female.

They are lonely and are loved bombed by older people who groom them into accepting this ideology as payment for being accepted.

They hate their body due to previous trauma/abuse and think that if they change it they cannot be hurt again as they will be a 'new person'

They find it sexually exciting to think of themselves dressed as a woman or to cross dress.

No it’s just a weird terminology situation where gender has become sex that has become “a thing” .

It’s stupidly sexist as only adversely affects females in any societal way