Transitioning at earlier age

[Christine_Hart]

I've seen a lot of stuff about transgendered youth recently and have just started watching the I Am Jazz series. I live in the UK so have only just heard about it, though I understand it's been around for a while. It got me thinking, are we maybe heading generally for gender issues to be picked up and dealt with at increasingly young ages? In the not too distant future will the trend be less towards older people who have struggled with their gender through the decades before transitioning and more towards young people transitioning after identifying their issues early?

[Dena]

That is my hope but I see far to many teens on this site who have parents that don't care, don't believe or feel it can be prayed away. In many countries if you get to a doctor young, you will receive puberty blockers that will delay sexual development until you are considered an adult and are capable of deciding what you want next. In addition, children are now allowed to cross live as their desired gender so they don't miss out on the formative years. It's a new world out there and if only everybody who needs it could participate.

[Virginia Hall]

I've seen a lot of stuff about transgendered youth recently and have just started watching the I Am Jazz series. I live in the UK so have only just heard about it, though I understand it's been around for a while. It got me thinking, are we maybe heading generally for gender issues to be picked up and dealt with at increasingly young ages? In the not too distant future will the trend be less towards older people who have struggled with their gender through the decades before transitioning and more towards young people transitioning after identifying their issues early?

A TED talk about it and there were people from the UK getting this treatment in Boston, USA. https://www.ted.com/talks/norman_spack_how_i_help_transgender_teens_become_who_they_want_to_be?language=en

[PrincessCrystal]

are we maybe heading generally for gender issues to be picked up and dealt with at increasingly young ages? In the not too distant future will the trend be less towards older people who have struggled with their gender through the decades before transitioning and more towards young people transitioning after identifying their issues early?

Yes, this is a trend which the APA has identified and is pretty much ecstatic about.  They're pushing alot of this progress and putting out tons of resources to help Transgender teens get effective counseling and proper treatment early.  I'm happy to think that, in the future, far fewer people will have to go through this bone-structure aversion that I'm going through because I wasn't able to think about this during my traumatic childhood.