The Prime Minister’s transgender proposals dangerously oversimplify a complex mental health issue

Oct 17, 2018 by Jill

by Dr Rick Thomas, Christian Medical Fellowship:

The Government’s public consultation on possible means to make it simpler and easier for people in England and Wales to change their legal gender concludes on 19 October. Prime Minister Theresa May has said that she wants ‘to see a process that is more streamlined and de-medicalised – because being trans should never be treated as an illness.’ It’s true that the present system is overly bureaucratic and expensive – reform is overdue. But would the current proposals lead to better outcomes?

The main change proposed is to a system of self-declaration that would make gender identity simply a matter of a person’s subjective feelings about themselves, and changing legal gender simply a matter of personal choice. It encourages the view that gender identity defines reality and that biological sex is but a social construct, something ‘assigned’ at birth. This new ideological dogma has no evidence-base in science but self-declaration would appear to reinforce it as if proven fact.

There is evidence (see here and here) that amongst those who present with gender incongruence there is an elevated prevalence of co-morbid psychopathology, especially mood disorders, anxiety disorders and suicidality. A Dutch study also reported the co-occurrence of autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and gender dysphoria. The incidence of ASD in a sample of 204 children and adolescents with dysphoria (mean age 10.8) was 7.8%.

Self-declaration would deprive these individuals of contact with mental health professionals at the time when their assessment and advice could be crucial. There is a real risk that people who require psychological support and specialised psychiatric treatment would not receive it.

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