Psychiatry expert: ‘scientifically there is no such thing as transgender’

[Anna]

Well for a moment he had me worried but this google search below rapidly confirms he is the same generation as the  doctors who made my childhood a living hell peddling their guesswork theories and abusing their status as medics.  I feel entirely justifed in ignoring anything the old quack has to say. The sooner that age group f*** off and die learn to accept that their knowledge is out of date, profoundly damaging and dangerous the better. My dad is one of them I am ashamed to say.

I love the fact he claims knowledge of how to treat something for which he himself cannot identify a physical cause.

I'm surprised he's not prescribing leeches and good bleeding TBH

http://www.google.co.uk/search?source=ig&hl=en-GB&rlz=1G1SVEC_EN-GBUK520&q=Dr.+Joseph+Berger+&btnG=Google+Search#hl=en&tbo=d&rlz=1G1SVEC_EN-GBUK520&sclient=psy-ab&q=Dr.+Joseph+Berger+toronto&oq=Dr.+Joseph+Berger+toronto&gs_l=serp.3..0i30.13853.16630.0.17316.8.3.0.5.5.0.515.999.2-2j5-1.3.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.nE5mgWl6qF8&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.41018144,d.d2k&fp=2600945df5254def&biw=1243&bih=460

[Arch]

Leeches have their uses. Berger, not so much.

[Anna]

True. Maggots as well. And maybe one day a constructive use for bigotted old men.

[kira21 ♡♡♡]

I guess he's entitled to his opinion.

A scientist and scientific approach has to base arguments on study and support with evidence, not opinion, so he should know better and should be held accountable.  Grrr! :-)

[Anna]

Yep.

[Dawn Heart]

So I guess I don't exist? Am I a ghost or something?

Cool. I guess that means I could haunt the fool.

Snickerdoodle, I LOVE your statement! Hey, we can form the "International Transgender Ghost Society" and gain the attention of the paranormal research / TV show industry so we can be seen haunting all the people like this Psych doc!

[Elsa]

Maybe they are too stupid to be able to recognize facts and simply want to select what they want to believe in as the truth.

[Joelene9]

  There is a "write a review" on the link above.  I am tempted, boy I am tempted!

  Joelene

[AwishForXX]

He's one of those kind of dr. people, the one's with their head in the sand.

I think his head may be some place else warm and dark.

[spacial]

Well for a moment he had me worried but this google search below rapidly confirms he is the same generation as the  doctors who made my childhood a living hell peddling their guesswork theories and abusing their status as medics.  I feel entirely justifed in ignoring anything the old quack has to say.

Like you and I suspect, others, I too went through the hands of a regeime that believed they could correct an abnormality like homosexuality. It seemed to be based around a belief that the problem was an inadequate ego. Wanting to be a girl was just an extension, rather than a separate or distinct situation, since any male who wanted be be a female was obviously attempting to climb down the social ladder!

Their approach was to put me and a succession of other young men, into an environment, with a majority of young women our age. Most of these young women were there by sentence of the courts. When conflicts inevitably occured it was because we weren't responding, our bad behaviour.

The best we can say is that this sort of thing is becoming increasingly rare. Indeed, the sort of attitudes that created it are often seen as backward or unprofessional now. That at least is a plus. It doesn't help us very much.

We can be thankful, at least, we didn't live in earlier times. The struggles of each generation are the product or our own resolution. I didn't give up and you clearly didn't. When we see the utter joy of brave little girls such as Jazz, or successful adults such as Dr Marcia Bowers, taking on the world and making a difference. We played a small part in that just by being.

That's not too bad and if this populist relic doesn't like it he knows what he can do!

[Keira]

He can wave his magical pixie wand all he wants but we won't disappear. It'll just attract the supreme wrath of the APA.

[Arch]

That's all right, Dr. Berger--I don't believe in you, either.

[brainiac]

Haven't they already cut transgender people's brains open and confirmed differences in neurons or whatever?

One of the major studies about gender identity and brain anatomy was a postmortem study in which the researchers looked at the size of a brain area called the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). It tends to be smaller in cisgender females and larger in cisgender males. They found that trans women's BNST was a better match in size with cis women's, and the one trans man they looked at had a BNST that was much larger (closer to cis male). There are some issues with the study (small sample size, not necessarily the best controls), but it's still a really cool result. You can read the study here.

Also, seconding the notion that even if this is a real psychiatrist, he is NOT a scientist and carries zero weight on this issue. You do not have to know anything about gender identity to be a psychiatrist, not to mention that doctors and psychiatrists are also absolutely not scientists.

[gennee]

I googled him and got a ton of hits. That doesn't mean he knows what he's doing, of course, but he's hardly a phantom.

I get the feeling that this guy is a shill for big pharma, the psychiatric
establishment and the medical industry.

[MaidofOrleans]

Scientifically his opinion doesn't matter any more then the next persons.

[sappho]

A quick google says that he's a member of NARTH. I don't know if I can give any credibility to a guy who believes in ex-gay therapy

[brainiac]

A quick google says that he's a member of NARTH. I don't know if I can give any credibility to a guy who believes in ex-gay therapy

This just further proves that he is not a scientist. I'll be lame and quote from the Wikipedia article because it summarizes my point well: "NARTH's leaders disagree with the global scientific consensus, the holding of the world's major mental health organizations, and scientific research into the topic which show that homosexuality is not a disorder." It's like arguing that the sun orbits the earth.

[michelle]

Most of our existence is what it is because it has been defined into existence in some legal legislative action, academic dictionary, or scientific or legal journal or and these terms have been accepted by the scientific and legal communities.   This is especially true of this gentleman's profession.   Transgender, gender identity, heterosexual, male, and female and as well as definitions of all of the attributes of each exist within the scientific and legal literature so for practical purposes have a reality.   If all legal and scientific literature were to go poof and vanish from existence then our very conceptual existence would vanish also.   

This man must be an idiot for not knowing this.   Transgenders exist because we exist and the scientific, medical, and  academic community in some part uses the word transgender to label our condition so all of those concerned can communicate about us.

One individual cannot define us out of existence because of his prejudices because one individual by himself or herself can not create an academic language.   One individual can contribute his or her definitions of concepts to their academic community, but the the community as a whole has to accept and assimilate these definitions for them to mean anything.

When one is in grade school, high school, and undergraduate school one is taught that the world is as it is.   When one goes on to get a master's degree one learns that the world is as the PHD's within the academic field define it and the legal system has legislated it into law, rules, and regulations.     

[Asfsd4214]

What would a psychiatrist know about science. Everything they do is a joke of a science.

[Dahlia]

Interesting and I agree.

The word 'transgender' actually loses its meaning since so many MTF are so very masculine (by nature)