A VITAL new resource for parents, grandparents and professionals seeking to support children and young adults with gender dysphoria is to be launched on January 16.
A 90-minute video explaining the sources of gender confusion, and therapies which can help a child understand the underlying issues has been produced with input from two of the world’s leading therapists in the field.
Dr Julie Hamilton, a family therapist for the past 30 years, and an educator in the field of gender identity for 22 years, has made the resource with expert insights from Dr Kenneth Zucker and Dr Susan Bradley, and interviews with adults who experienced gender dysphoria as a child.
Dr Zucker [1] is an American-Canadian psychologist and sexologist who, has published over 300 per-reviewed articles. He was psychologist-in-chief at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and head of its Gender Identity Service until December 2015. Dr Susan Bradley [2] is a Canadian psychiatrist who has written many journal articles and books, including Gender Identity Disorder and Psychosexual Problems in Children and Adolescents, and was Psychiatrist-in-Chief at the Hospital for Sick Children and consultant psychiatrist at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry. Zucker collaborated with Bradley, collecting clinical and research data for decades and became an international authority on gender dysphoria in children and adolescents.
The free-access video, ‘Counselling Gender-Dysphoric Children and Teenagers’ seeks to provide a qualified overview of gender dysphoria and recommends a form of historically used ‘talk therapy’. Such therapy helps the child (and parents) understand and process the underlying reasons which may have contributed to the gender confusion, instead of the usual societal ‘fast-track’, with full acceptance of the presentation, sometimes leading to hormone or surgical treatment.
Dr Hamilton said: “As gender dysphoria increases among children and teenagers, health care professionals are beginning to recognize the importance of counselling for this population. And yet, few counsellors really understand this issue and how to help. This video features two of the world’s leading experts in gender dysphoria, and the final section presents a Christian worldview, demonstrating how a relationship with God can impacts gender confused Christian clients.”
The video explains that there are currently three main approaches to gender dysphoria: Gender Affirming Care, a ‘Watchful-Waiting’ approach, and an Active Therapeutic Approach. Dr Hamilton says that under the first, professionals and parents adopt a social transition from as early as three years old, with puberty suppressing hormones used later, prior to puberty. After puberty, cross-sex hormones can be administered. For some, surgery may follow. In the UK, the Health Secretary has recently extended a ban on children under 18 receiving hormone or surgical interventions unless via a new, government-approved trial looking into the long-term impact of such drugs [3].
Under the ‘Watchful-Waiting’ approach, both parents and healthcare professional wait to see how the child develops into adulthood, and whether early gender dysphoria changes as the child processes their emotions with age. However, this is regarded as an ‘ambiguous concept’ as parents may encourage a child’s choice at any given time, as parental actions are rarely ‘neutral’. The video highlights research which shows up to 90% of children who expressed gender dysphoria as a child, if left without intervention, will go on to live in their birth/sex designated gender as adults. However, many of those children will go on to identity as gay or lesbian.
The video promotes the ‘Active Therapeutic Approach’, which Dr Hamilton explains can help a child (and parents) understand the underlying issues which may have led to their gender confusion. She says it is ‘Talk Therapy’ but sadly, she says, some in the LGBT community claim it is ‘conversion therapy’ – something strenuously denied by the two experts.
Dr Hamilton said “The reason some refer to it as conversion therapy is due to the goal of the therapy – not the methods. So, if the goal has anything to do with addressing gender, or even reducing same sex attraction, its automatically classified as conversion therapy’, with the implications of harm. Ironically, this classification ends up actually harming clients because it discourages them from pursuing professional help to understand their gender or, to reduce unwanted attractions.”
Parents watching the video will learn that there are often underlying factors which contribute to their children’s confusions – but with good therapy, can often be overcome. Such factors include personality characteristics, child temperament, ‘perceptions’ of masculine and feminine characteristics, parent-child relationships, peer relationships and family dynamics. In addition to child gender dysphoria, the video explores the contributing factors to what is often called ‘Rapid Onset’ Gender Dysphoria – most notably in females and those with autism.
This resource has been commended by London-based The International Foundation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice (IFTCC). The IFTCC work extends to 35 counties, and it advocates for the rights and freedoms of individuals to seek and receive professional and pastoral help to live according to their primary values concerning their sexual identity and practises.
Dr Mike Davidson its founder and CEO said: “This video provides a refreshing perspective from two science-led practitioners with decades of experience challenging the notion that boys should be encouraged to become girls, and girls be encouraged to become boys. Scientific inquiry in this area, as in any other, should be rooted in the real lives of individuals who experience dysphoria and the people who support them, regardless of their background or beliefs.
“The faith community must also be considered in the pathways available to those who choose to reconcile their identity with their biological sex and who reject the “born trans” narrative. It is time to listen to de-transitioners, desisters, sceptics, and those who have supported them towards health and healing. The IFTCC appreciates Hamilton’s initiative and the valuable insights offered by Drs Zucker and Bradley, as well as the shared experiences of individuals who have left behind trans identities and practices.”
From January 16, the video is available free to access or download at http://www.genderidentity101.com
