People who overcome their gender confusion to return to their biological sex have found clinicians to be uninformed and judgemental, a small-scale Canadian study has indicated.
The study, led by Dr Kinnon R. MacKinnon and published in JAMA Network Open, assessed video interviews of 28 Canadian adults over 18-years-old who had detransitioned.
The study’s authors said that their research confirms “a clinical need for information on stopping or changing hormones”.
‘Shaming’
Those who had undergone removal of testes or ovaries said they received “bad” care when they decided to detransition.
One female participant said she stopped speaking to clinicians when she ceased taking testosterone and turned to online groups instead as she had “almost no supports”.
Another woman said she believed that living as a man would improve her health, but “the farther I got into transition, the worse my symptoms and my presentation was”.
The authors found that “clinicians may be insufficiently knowledgeable to meet the needs of this population”, and they must “avoid shaming patients who are pursuing hormonal cessation or switching or surgical reversals and instead strive to address current mental and physical health needs”.
‘Depression’
In Australia, a woman has launched legal action after she underwent drastic surgery to appear like a man.
Jay Langadinos from Sydney started taking cross-sex hormones when she was 19-years-old. At 22, she had surgery to remove her womb, only seven months after undergoing a double mastectomy.
Langadinos, who has now returned to living as a woman, is suing psychiatrist Dr Patrick Toohey for setting her on the medical pathway when he was aware of her history of “significant social phobia and depression”.
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