ArticleThe Journal of analytical psychology2020
Transgender medicalization and the attempt to evade psychological distress.
Article in The Journal of analytical psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Transidentification in Adolescents and Young Adults: Understanding Parental Concerns to Improve Psychological Support for Families.Archives of sexual behavior · 2025Article
- Decentering cisnormativity and transnormativity in transition interruption and detransitioning research.International journal of transgender health · 2025Article
- Detransition and Desistance Among Previously Trans-Identified Young Adults.Archives of sexual behavior · 2024Article
- Transition Regret and Detransition: Meanings and Uncertainties.Archives of sexual behavior · 2023Article
- The Detransition Rate Is Unknown.Archives of sexual behavior · 2023Article
- Gender detransition: A critical review of the literature.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2023Article
- Partial Regret After Gender Affirmation Surgery of a 35-Year-Old Taiwanese Transgender Woman.Archives of sexual behavior · 2023Article
- Interrogating Gender-Exploratory Therapy.Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2023Article
- Gender detransition: a case study.The Journal of analytical psychology · 2021Article
- Transgender medicalization and the attempt to evade psychological distress.The Journal of analytical psychology · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In this paper the author argues that trans-identification and its associated medical treatment can constitute an attempt to evade experiences of psychological distress. This occurs on three levels. Firstly, the trans person themselves may seek to evade dysregulated affects associated with such experiences as attachment trauma, childhood abuse, and ego-alien sexual feelings. Secondly, therapists may attempt to evade feelings, such as fear and hatred, evoked by engaging with these dysregulated affects. Thirdly, we, as a society, may wish to evade acknowledging the reality of such trauma, abuse and sexual distress by hypothesizing that trans-identification is a biological issue, best treated medically. The author argues that the quality of evidence supporting the biomedical approach is extremely poor. This puts young trans people at risk of receiving potentially damaging medical treatment they may later seek to reverse or come to regret, while their underlying psychological issues remain unaddressed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.