Transgender Psychology and RelationshipsPsychologists work with a wide variety of clients. For therapy to be as effective as possible, you often need to know a lot about the features of some of them. We decided to talk to psychologist Lyayla Bisenova and find out what is important to understand when dealing with transgender people, what harmful stereotypes can interfere with, and what information will be useful when working with such appeals. - The first and main thing that psychologists need to know is that psychological work with transgender people is built in the same way as with cisgender people (those whose gender identity coincides with the established biological gender) - these are the most ordinary normal people. Practical psychology is not divided into male and female. There are, of course, certain differences, but they are not enough to distinguish individual areas. There is child psychology and adolescence as a part of it; and adult psychology. Professionals should not divide people by gender, gender, or orientation. When working with transgender people, you need to know and take into account certain peculiarities related to the specifics of trans topics - you do not need to take up therapy if you have no idea about transgender people relationships; it is necessary to study the available information and, if possible, consult with specialists who already have experience. There is a certain ethic of communication: to call a person by the name and in the gender that he_she indicates, misgendering can hurt a lot (misgendering from the English mis - “wrong” and gender - “gender” is a deliberate or unintentional appeal to a person using words not suitable for her / his gender identity (for example, addressing a trans woman “he” or a trans man “she”; a deliberate address by name, which is written in documents and which the person does not like). A person has come to you with his own individual request, and transgenderness does not explain all his or her difficulties and problems. The same request from different transgender people can include completely different situations. Some people still believe that transgender people are people with mental or mental disabilities. - Once there was such a stereotype, but today not only specialists, but also ordinary people need to know that this stereotype does not correspond to reality. It is extremely rare that the idea of a transgender transition is part of delusion, but a person in other matters has no connection with reality and shows signs of mental illness, during remission this idea does not arise. It may happen that some of the transgender people really have a mental disorder, but then the disease itself is not related to gender identity. Linking these concepts is like thinking that all artists are ill with schizophrenia due to the fact that someone draws in delirium, or there are artists suffering from this disease. Back in the last century, experts tried to identify the profile of a "homosexual", but it turned out that there is no profile, it is impossible to identify the mental characteristics of homosexual people, at least somewhat different from heterosexuals. Likewise, with transgender - this is not a marker that can be significant for psychiatry. There should be no “special” and stigmatizing attitude towards transgender people. In ICD-10, transgenderism was considered an identity disorder and was considered within the framework of “mental and behavioral disorders”. In ICD-11, transgenderness has been removed from the list of mental disorders (which is likely to reduce the stigma associated with trans people). On May 25, 2019, WHO officially ended the classification of transgender people as a mental disorder. From this point on, the document describes “gender identity disorder” as “gender mismatch,” and the term was dropped from the chapter on mental disorders. In modern science, a psychological state is considered a disorder if it causes severe stress or disability. Even among psychologists there is a "opinion" that transgender is a fashion - Today, people have more opportunities to realize themselves as who they really are and to express themselves in accordance with this. At all times, there have been transgender people in all traditional cultures. There is a lot of research on this topic, so that people from the trans-community did not become more because of "fashion", we just started to hear their voices, which, of course, is very important and courageous from their side. The majority of transgender people, thanks to the Internet, now have free access to information, they understand that they are not alone. When someone says that it is now considered cool for young people to classify themselves as transgender or LGBT, this means that the person does not understand the issue at all and completely ignores the fact that there is strong discrimination in society for this group of people; to identify oneself as an oppressed minority means taking on great difficulties. It would be a very peculiar fashion to hide and / or face aggression from other people. This is clearly not a propaganda of a beautiful life. Transgender people are dozens of times more likely to attempt suicide than the rest of the population. Transgender, like sexual orientation, cannot be imposed. For example, there is information that there are no gays among the representatives of the Mormon community, but, according to the same information, 100% of young people among the Mormons who have identified themselves as gay commit suicide. These people cannot leave the community, because their lives are determined by the life of the community, but they also cannot stay, they simply have no way out. There are a lot of suicides or attempted suicides among transgender people. The suicide rate of transgender people undergoing medical intervention is 80 times higher than the overall suicide rate in the US population. The percentage of suicide attempts in other countries, even such as the Netherlands, is no less low. Among transgender people who are just planning medical interventions, the rate of suicide attempts, according to some estimates, is 19-25%. According to studies in the 2000s, this figure is much higher: a third of the people surveyed transgender people have attempted suicide at least once. At risk are usually adolescents or young people. Transgender people in older age groups are more resistant to psychological problems and pressure from outside. The main reasons for suicide:
Also, transphobia flourishes in our society - an extremely hostile attitude towards transgender and non-binary people. Transphobia entails violence (including sexual), discrimination, hatred, disgust and aggressive behavior towards those who do not fall within the generally accepted framework. Trans people are subject to ridicule, criminalization, pathologization and stigmatization. Very often murders motivated by transphobia are not recognized as such and are classified as anything - up to and including murder by negligence. Since many people are unaware of the difference between gender identity and sexual orientation, transgender people can be further attacked by homophobia. Today there is an international human rights initiative to monitor the killings of transgender people. As part of this project, information was collected on 2,343 murders of transgender people around the world between 2008 and 2016. The researchers note that these data are far from complete. What is gender dysphoria, does all trans people have it, and how can you help in this situation?- Gender dysphoria is an emotional and psychological state in which a transgender person may find himself, due to the fact that the gender assigned to him at birth does not coincide with his gender identity. The experience can be so intense that a person may need medication. It is important to understand that the main help for gender dysphoria is to support the person in wanting to be who they are. There is no one, universal way to find identity. Someone needs to dress in certain clothes, someone needs to cut their hair or grow their hair, someone needs hormone therapy, and someone needs to undergo surgery - all trans people are different. The psychologist's job is to help transgender people explore themselves, their relationship with corporeality and / or identity, while trying to be aware of and not broadcast their personal stereotypes and prejudices. Not all transgender and gender non-conforming people experience dysphoria. Stereotypes: "this is adolescent and will pass", "it can be cured", "a man / woman needs a normal one" and so on - A person needs to classify everything, this makes it possible to distinguish certain classes and groups of objects and phenomena, which helps a simpler understanding of the surrounding world and saves energy. Stereotypes are the result of trying to classify without understanding that no complex phenomenon fits into a clearly defined framework. Social roles emerged from the biological division of the sexes and the associated division of labor. We cannot deny objective gender differences, but we must also understand that many roles have been formed in a certain way over millennia because there were socio-economic reasons for this. For example, among some nationalities, pottery is a purely male type of activity, it is believed that women are not capable of it; for others, on the contrary, pottery is an exclusively female occupation, and men cannot join it. We all have feminine and masculine traits, it is always difficult to be clearly confident in our masculinity or femininity, hence so much talk and even trainings about "real" men and women, because we all have a grain of doubt in this matter. As you know, repressed doubts give rise to anxiety, anxiety - aggression and unfounded statements. - Gender identity is a complex process of self-awareness, it is impossible to influence it by force, you can only help the personality to open up. Someone realizes their gender identity and sexual orientation in a certain way once and for all, for someone it is a difficult and sometimes confusing process. Yes, there is such a possibility that a person will “change his mind” and change the idea of his own gender identity, but this cannot be forced, this can happen only in the process of better self-recognition. And, after all, this is really a personal matter, no one has the right to force anyone, to be not what he_she_they are not. It is always important for psychologists to remember about correctness and tact - Criticism of appearance, behavior, expressing doubts about the gender chosen by a person - all this indicates either the unprofessionalism of the specialist, or his dismissive and aggressive behavior towards the client / client. Many fear that humanity will die out due to the LGBT community, although there is no connection between orientation, gender identity and the ability to reproduce. Humanity has existed for 2.8 million years; in 1800 there were one billion of us; now, in 2019, that number has grown to 7.7 billion. So we are facing extinction for a very long time. At what age may you need to see a psychologist?- Children and adolescents usually do not have their own finances, they are brought by their parents or someone from their relatives. But you need to know that psychology is not a treatment, we are just talking. But if the help of a psychotherapist is required, then she must already have a license to work with minors. And such a specialist can accept children and adolescents only with the permission of the parents or legal guardian. How do parents of transgender children and adolescents behave?- As a rule, if a person comes to me, he does not come to swear, but to clarify the situation for himself. Again, there is no particular parent of trans people or cis people. There are those who support their child, and there are those who do not want to hear anything. This is a general problem, not a problem of any particular group. We all should treat each other as correctly, attentively and carefully as possible. Hear each other, and respect each other's identity. Mutual respect and humanity are the best foundations for a healthy society of happy people. |
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