Not an exact match but:
"Title: Symptom profiles of gender dysphoric patients of transsexual type compared to patients with personality disorders and healthy adults.
(Acta Psychiatr Scand 2000 Oct;102(4):276-81, 0001-690X, Haraldsen IR; Dahl AA, University of Oslo, Aker Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Norway.)
OBJECTIVE: Gender dysphoric patients of transsexual type (TS) have been considered to have severe psychopathology. However, these notions have a weak empirical documentation. METHOD: TS patients (n = 86), patients with personality disorder (PD, n = 98) and adult healthy controls (HC, n = 1068) were compared by means of the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90). All patients were diagnosed by structured interviews (Axis I, II and V of DSM-III-R/IV). PD patients were further characterized according to the LEAD-standard. RESULTS: TS patients scored significantly lower than PD patients on the Global Symptom Index and all SCL-90 subscales. Although the TS group generally scored slightly higher than the HC group, all scores were within the normal range. CONCLUSION:
TS patients selected for sex reassignment showed a relatively low level of self-rated psychopathology before and after treatment. This finding casts doubt on the view that transsexualism is a severe mental disorder."
Posted on: July 11, 2007, 13:04:29
A psycho-endocrinological overview of transsexualism
A Michel, C Mormont1 and J J Legros
Department of Clinical Psychology, University of LieÁge, LieÁge, Belgium and 1Endocrinology Service, Unit of Psychoneuroendocrinology,University of LieÁge, LieÁge, Belgium
(Correspondence should be addressed to A Michel, University of LieÁge, Department of Clinical Psychology, Boulevard du Rectorat ± B33, B-4000 LieÁge, Belgium; Email:
aude.michel@ulg.ac.be)
European Journal of Endocrinology (2001) 145 365±376
ISSN 0804-4643
Post-transformation
It is impossible to compel the transsexual to follow
long-term assessment (129). Indeed, a major obstacle
in conducting follow-up studies is that it is very difficult
to find transsexuals who have been operated on, and
even more difficult to find those who accept reassessment
(130±132). Therefore, those few who do
agree to participate in follow-up studies do not
constitute a representative sample of the population
of transsexuals who have been operated on.
Apart from this methodological problem, since the
first publication by Hertz et al. (133), a large number of
studies have examined the consequences of sex change
and these have been the subject of several reviews (59,
134±141). In the great majority of cases, transsexuals
seem satisfied with their transformation, with only
about 10% of subjects being unsatisfied. This percentage
is lower in FM (6% (135); 9.7% (137); 3% (139))
compared with MF subjects (8.1% (135); 10.3% (137);
13% (139)).
A temporary dissatisfaction can be observed immediately
after the sex change. Certain transsexuals and
themselves confronted with various difficulties (postoperation
pain, surgical complications, dissatisfaction
with surgical results, departure of the partner, loss of job,
familial conflicts, etc.) and experience a phase of
dissatisfaction that can lead to regret in some cases.
However, most often this dissatisfaction disappears during
the year following the surgical transformation where no
other intervention was deemed necessary (142).
Posted on: July 11, 2007, 13:09:06
Psychiatric Aspects of Sex Reassignment Surgery
Charles Mate-Kole/Maurizio Freschi, Charing Cross and Westminster Medical
School, London
Evidence from the majority of studies to date suggests that SRS is followed by an improvement in psychological status. Lundstrom et al (1984) in a general review of the literature reported as follows:
Satisfactory outcome to some degree is dependent upon good cosmetic outcome and functional results of surgery, but other variables can affect the patient's perception of overall satisfaction.
Personal and social instability are correlated with unsatisfactory results and this is an indication that the transsexual should be supported both preoperatively and postoperatively if SRS is to be considered.
There is an inverse relationship between increasing age at the time of request for surgery and favourable outcome.
Not only do secondary transsexuals have a higher frequency of unsatisfactory outcome, but it is indicated that when such patients are refused surgery they manage their lives reasonably well and tend to give up their pursuit of SRS.
SRS is the treatment of choice for carefully selected genuine primary transsexuals only. Caution should be paid to patients with unstable backgrounds and diagnostic criteria should be consistent. There is no doubt that transsexualism is an extreme form of gender dysphoria. However, whether SRS is the treatment of choice is equivocal. Therefore, future studies should adopt a multidisciplinary approach ranging from psychiatric and neuropsychological evaluation to sociological and physiological investigations to improve the definition of indications and predictors for SRS.
Posted on: July 11, 2007, 13:11:23
Sex Reassignment of Adolescent Transsexuals: A Follow-up Study
AM. ACAD. CHILD ADOLESC. PSYCHIATRY, 36:2. February 1997
Accepted May 15, 1996.
From the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Rudolph Magnus Institute of Neurosciences,
Utrecht, The Netherlands
0890-8567/97/3602-0263503.00/0©1997 by the American Academy. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
PEGGY T. COHEN-KETTENIS, PH.D., AND STEPHANIE H.M. van GOOZEN, PH.D.
DiscussionIn this adolescent group, 1 to 5 years after surgery,
sex reassignment seems to have been therapeutic and beneficial. SRS has resolved the patients' gender identity problem and enabled them to live in the new gender role in quite an inconspicuous way. Socially and psychologically these adolescents do not seem to function very differently from nontranssexual peers, perhaps with the exception of a greater reluctance among those in the FM group to get involved in short-term or incidental sexual encounters. Relief of gender dysphoria, however, does not necessarily mean relief of unhappiness in general. In some cases, after SRS, certain non-transsexualism related problems had disappeared, such as shyness or bad school grades. But in other cases such changes had not occurred, or the new situation had created new problems, such as (in the majority of the FMs) living as a man without a penis. This condition may cause practical problems, e.g., showering in a group setting after sports activities, and emotional problems, e.g., being frustrated because of the impossibility of having "real sex" with one's girlfriend. The extent to which such unfavorable factors hamper postsurgical functioning depends largely on the individual's psychological strength. That the group functioned quite well from a psychological point of view suggests that they were capable of handling their problems adequately.
In the previously mentioned study of adult Dutch transsexuals who had undergone SRS (Kuiper and Cohen-Kettenis, 1988), SRS was also found to be an effective treatment for transsexuals. Several similar instruments were used in the two studies and all subjects were treated in the same country. Therefore, data from our study are easier to compare with data from this adult group than with data from non-Dutch samples.
