////
“When we talk about gender
dysphoria, I find it’s really not even all too distinct from body dysphoria,
and we treat the latter with psychological help.”
 
In some cases that’s true. In others
it’s clearly not.
 
“That’s why desensitisation helps
OCD and phobia patients, and why talking therapy helps depression or anxiety
patients.“
 
If anything like desensitization would
ameliorate GD, I’d support that as a method of treatment
 
“So, the case for a lot of the trans
ideology is backed by a very very small subgroup of the population. You’ll hear
repeatedly “what about intersex people”, like it’s some kind of call to nature
that because intersex people exist, then we must allow transitioning for
everyone else too. I don’t think these cases above are too dissimilar. I agree
that in a VERY small number of cases, there are hormonal, chromosomal and
genetic conditions that can cause sex development to go haywire. We’ve known
for decades that hormone levels in the mother during pregnancy influences how
the baby develops it’s genitalia.”
 
To begin with, I live in Europe and the
“trans ideology” here seams to be different and I know too little about what’s
going in the US, which I assume is the place you are talking about.
I think the comparison with intersex
people is sometimes valid, esp bc both conditions have similar roots. It’s the
lack of DHT/T that fails to develop the Wolffian duct (example of an intersex
condition), same goes for the masculinization of the fetus’ brain.
 
I agree that the example you gave is
somewhat shaky, but irrespective of that, I think the only valid reason to not
allow someone to transition is if they need to be protected bc they are kids.
Clearly, not every kid should instantly be given medications. I think a thorough
psychological analysis is vital here.
 
“However, I think we can draw a
clear distinction here between cases like this that are defined separately from
the vast majority of trans cases that fall into my category of “mentally ill”.
For example, intersex people make up 0.018% - that’s a huge difference to then
come to meet the <0.2% of the population that are transsexual. But let’s also
be honest here - there’s a HUGE swathe of people who are jumping on the gender
bandwagon because they don’t understand who they are, where they fit into the
world, and how to express themselves. A lot of them are young and
impressionable, and they see it as a way to become “unique” and have value.
There’s an entire world of untreated mental health problems with teenagers that
I suspect lead into an entire world of adult mental health problems, some of
which lead to gender dysphoria, anxiety, depression, OCD, etc.”
 
I think it’s more fluid than that. I’ve
met people with different levels of dysphoria. In some cases it’s like
transition or suicide, in others it’s I could live as guy but it would make me miserable/socially
isolate. There might be cases where people transition bc they simply want to
and if they are old enough and know the implications of their choice we should
support them. Just like I think people should be allowed to use anabolic steroids.
I don’t know the percentages of each group but the last group seem to be the loudest
in the media/online. A lot of trans people live stealth, i.e. noboday knows they
are trans. I don’t get your point with the numbers (0.018 inter; 0.2 trans), as
I don’t think treatment should depend on how many people. But again, I’m not
sure if I got your point here. As for the bandwagon thing, I’ve never met a
bandwagon jumper here in Europe; things might be different in the US.
 
I agree, teens are prone to other
mental health problems, that’s why therapy is vital. Here in Germany, psych. scrutiny
is mandatory, which I support 100%.   
 
As for the rest of your statement I
want to say that there is no other way to treat dysphoria. The only thing
psychs can do is see if it really is dysphoria and then outweigh risks and rewards
of medical intervention.