Summary

Two clinicians at England's former national youth gender clinic (GIDS) looked back over 18 months of their own cases. They describe teenagers whose gender distress began in adolescence and who, after a longer assessment, no longer wanted puberty blockers (drugs that pause puberty) or hormones. They found 12 such young people out of 128 cases (9.4%). Most were girls, many were autistic, and many were self-harming or suicidal. Two case stories show how bullying, homophobia, family breakdown and distress about puberty came to be seen differently over time. The authors argue that assessment should allow unhurried exploration, while noting that many others do go on to medical treatment. It is a small case review by the treating clinicians, with no comparison group, no standard measurements and no long-term follow-up. It shows one path, but not how common it is or what caused the change.

Key findings

• De to forfattere gennemgik alle teenagere (12 år og derover), de vurderede på GIDS mellem oktober 2015 og april 2017: 156 sager, skåret ned til 128, efter nogle blev udelukket.
• 12 af de 128 (9,4 %) havde kønslidelse, der begyndte i teenageårene, bad om medicinsk behandling ved starten og holdt op med at ønske den under vurderingen.
• Af de 12 kom syv til at føle sig trygge ved deres fødselskøn, mens fem stadig identificerede sig som trans, men ikke længere ønskede hormoner.
• De fleste var piger (9 af 12) i alderen 12 til 16 år (gennemsnit 14). 7 var allerede diagnosticeret med autisme, 7 havde for nylig tænkt på selvmord, 7 havde selvskadet, og 2 havde for nylig forsøgt selvmord.
• De fleste havde ikke transitioneret socialt (7 af 12), og de fleste havde ingen formel diagnose med kønsdysfori fra den, der henviste dem (9 af 12).
• Vurderingerne var længere end klinikkens sædvanlige 3 til 6 sessioner: i gennemsnit 6,6 sessioner over 9,6 måneder, mest med familien.
• To sagshistorier, en 14-årig autistisk dreng og en 14-årig autistisk pige med tidligere spiseforstyrrelse, beskriver lidelse, der kom til at blive forstået i form af mobning, homofobi, familiens opløsning og frygt for puberteten.
• Forfatterne opfordrer til en fuld gennemgang af journaler på tværs af klinikken og til langsigtet forskning og siger, at medicinsk behandling stadig hjælper nogle unge.

Abstract

As the number of young people referred to specialist gender identity clinics in the western world increases, there is a need to examine ways of making sense of the range and diversity of their developmental pathways and outcomes. This article presents a joint case review of the authors' caseloads over an 18-month period, to identify and describe those young people who presented to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) with gender dysphoria (GD) emerging in adolescence, and who, during the course of assessment, ceased wishing to pursue medical (hormonal) interventions and/or who arrived at a different understanding of their embodied distress. From the 12 cases identified, 2 case vignettes are presented. Implications for the development of clinical practice, service delivery and research are considered.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the adolescents included in this review met criteria for GD and initially requested medical interventions to resolve their difficulties. Over the course of the psychosocial assessment, they came to understand their distress and its alleviation (at that particular point in time) differently and eventually chose not take a medical (hormonal) pathway and/or identified their gender identity as broadly aligned with their biological sex. Of course, this is not the case for many other young people presenting to the service and it is important to hold onto the multiplicity of possible outcomes. The study highlights the need for the psychosocial assessment to nurture a space in between the internal and external worlds of these young people. Such an assessment would need to be properly located in a developmental framework which takes seriously the inescapable in between-ness of adolescence and joins with young people and their families to broaden the narratives available to them, to make sense of gender-based distress.