AT the age of 12, Patrick Mitchell began a two-year journey to realise his dream of becoming a girl. Now he tells why, at 14, he changed his mind.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/current-affairs/patricks-pain-i-didnt-know-who-the-person-staring-back-at-me-was/news-story/65ff86c8bfe269109f1b28cbeb93ab7a

Current Affairs/by Debbie Schipp  09/11/2017

At 12 he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and begged his mother to let him transition into a girl.
"You wish you could just change everything about you, you just see any girl and you say 'I'd kill to be like that',

But two years after taking oestrogen hormones provided by his mother and growing his hair long, Patrick, now 14, has changed his mind. However, his features and skin have softened and his breasts have developed.

Australian Paediatrician John Whitehall told 60 Minutes he disputes the number of cases of gender dysphoria being diagnosed in Australia as the number of teens being treated "skyrockets".

He argues that many teens diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria are not transgender at all.

"We have to acknowledge there are a lot of children who are confused about their gender identity. It's a normal phase that they would go through. It's not uncommon. The good news is statistically, they are all going to grow out of it. Don't mess them up," he warned.

He has "grave" concerns over prescribing oestrogen to transgender teens because "there is no proof that oestrogen therapy  is going to work".

"You think their emotional problems are going to get better by giving them oestrogen ... that's called optimism. It's not a scientific method at all. The whole thing is experimental in that sense," Prof Whitehall said.