How many gatekeepers do we need...?

[Asfsd4214]

This research points more and more toward GID being mental than medical.

Can you produce any of this research?

Everything I have seen has indicated the opposite.

I know wikipedia isn't generally considered reliable, but it's the best index of some of the evidence around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiology_of_transsexualism#Possible_physical_causes

[tekla]

I know wikipedia isn't generally considered reliable, but it's the best index of some of the evidence around.

That sentence stands by itself, but there are a lot better researched indexes of work done on this stuff.  But, by definition, GID is in the DSM which makes it de facto a mental deal, no matter how much you may protest the opposite.  That the 'cure' is medical (chemical and surgical) makes it a medical cure, not a medical condition.  In so long as its listed in the DSM its a mental deal.  Period.

[rejennyrated]

I know wikipedia isn't generally considered reliable, but it's the best index of some of the evidence around.

That sentence stands by itself, but there are a lot better researched indexes of work done on this stuff.  But, by definition, GID is in the DSM which makes it de facto a mental deal, no matter how much you may protest the opposite.  That the 'cure' is medical (chemical and surgical) makes it a medical cure, not a medical condition.  In so long as its listed in the DSM its a mental deal.  Period.

Hold up a moment...

Just because something is in DSM does not mean that it is mental - it just means that the people who compiled the DSM think it is mental. (which is a slightly different proposition as my next paragraph will demonstrate.)

Personally I think that the DSM compilers may all be mental themselves - but that certainly doesn't mean that they are. It is perfectly possible that I could be mistaken and later forced to revise my opinion in the light of new information.

Just as the editions of DSM which listed homosexuality as a mental illness are now realised by all but the most ignorant and bigotted to have been mistaken.

It is a sad fact that historically it takes bewteen ten and twenty years for current research findings to be incorporated into mainstream medical thinking. That means that DSM or any similar compendium usually represents the state of the art ten years or more ago, and as we have already agreed there is pleanty of recent research which tends to contraindicate the current inclusion.

One day the DSM compilers will catch up with reality. On that day I sincerely hope that all transpeople then alive will get a well deserved apology for generations of wrongful stigmatisation.

[Asfsd4214]

Hold up a moment...

Just because something is in DSM does not mean that it is mental - it just means that the people who compiled the DSM think it is mental. (which is a slightly different proposition as my next paragraph will demonstrate.)

Personally I think that the DSM compilers may all be mental themselves - but that certainly doesn't mean that they are. It is perfectly possible that I could be mistaken and later forced to revise my opinion in the light of new information.

Just as the editions of DSM which listed homosexuality as a mental illness are now realised by all but the most ignorant and bigotted to have been mistaken.

It is a sad fact that historically it takes bewteen ten and twenty years for current research findings to be incorporated into mainstream medical thinking. That means that DSM or any similar compendium usually represents the state of the art ten years or more ago, and as we have already agreed there is pleanty of recent research which tends to contraindicate the current inclusion.

What she said.

As much as authority would love to believe otherwise. Reality doesn't change because they decide to write a book and call it the standard. A disorder does not magically switch from mental to physical because they reclassify it.  Or vice verse.

One day the DSM compilers will catch up with reality. On that day I sincerely hope that all transpeople then alive will get a well deserved apology for generations of wrongful stigmatisation.

I wouldn't count on that one. Did homosexuals ever get an apology?

[sarahb]

Julie - I actually live in southern California, but if the therapist won't budge on her requirements then I'm going to look into other sources, and I may give the person you suggested a call to see what my options are.

I've called my initial therapist and told her that the other therapist wants to talk to her to get some background information to hopefully cut the visits I have to have with her to 2, but I also told her that I am looking to just go once, and don't need anymore, so she said she's going to talk to the other therapist and see if she can sway her into just requiring one visit. At this point, I'm hoping that the other therapist won't force me into more than 2, but if she'll allow me to have 1 or 2 sessions before she writes the letter then I'm going to go with that...$150-$300 is better than $450-$600 that she initially wanted, it's still ridiculous though.

~Sarah

[MaggieB]

Sarah,
What you are going through is insane and completely unnecessary.
Consider coming up to the Santa Cruz CA area for a single visit to a gender therapist. I went to one who charged me $30 on his sliding scale for my second letter. He is a Ph.D and a leader in transsexual treatment here. Dr. Shane Hill.

Maggie

[Keroppi]

I've called my initial therapist and told her that the other therapist wants to talk to her to get some background information to hopefully cut the visits I have to have with her to 2, but I also told her that I am looking to just go once, and don't need anymore, so she said she's going to talk to the other therapist and see if she can sway her into just requiring one visit. At this point, I'm hoping that the other therapist won't force me into more than 2, but if she'll allow me to have 1 or 2 sessions before she writes the letter then I'm going to go with that...$150-$300 is better than $450-$600 that she initially wanted, it's still ridiculous though.

I wish you luck in getting it down to only 1 or possibly 2 meetings.

Being devil advocate for a second, doesn't the 1st therapist talking to and persuading the 2nd one to lower his/her requirement due to the experience of the 1st with the patient contradict the whole concept of 2 independent referrer?

[Naturally Blonde]

In the U.K GD is only seen as by NHS psychiatrists a mental health issue, which in turn causes far more problems for us.
In some other countries (especially Asia, Thailand, Holland etc) it's not seen that way and therefor treatment is more accessable.