Are Transsexuals Mentally ill?

Why they do so is unknown. Some researchers think a percentage of transsexuals have an underlying physiological  condition, essentially a wrong-gendered brain.

 Regardless, few in the field believe transsexual impulses can be eradicated or cured. The choices are some combination of hormones and surgery, or else you just deal. The surgery part is what makes some people recoil. They cite another condition proposed for the DSM, body integrity identity disorder, characterized by the wish to have a part of your body amputated, typically the left arm or leg.

You don’t see anybody claiming BIIDers are paragons of mental health and doctors should merrily saw away. But another way to look at it is that sex reassignment surgery or hormone treatment is more like a full-body tattoo.

Would I do it? No, but I don’t much care if other people do.

The question is whether reassignment makes transsexuals happy. Most studies say yes, but that conclusion was questioned by the UK newspaper the Guardian in 2004. Having interviewed several SRS patients who said they were no happier after surgery and felt they’d made a big mistake, the paper commissioned the Aggressive Research Investigative Facility (ARIF) at the University of Birmingham to review the medical reports. ARIF’s conclusion: most studies of SRS outcomes were fatally flawed the major failing being that a huge percentage of SRS patients dropped out of sight. 

 

For example, one study found that of 727 subjects, who had undergone male-to-female SRS, 539 had a known address, 420 of those had a correct known address, 417 of those were still alive, 355 of those agreed to participate, and 232 of those returned their forms. Of the last group, 86 percent rated their “happiness with result” at 8 or higher on a 10-point scale and only four percent said 5 or below.

 

You can spin this any way you want. The responders are a pretty satisfied group, but what’s up with the nonresponders?

 

Some are surely dead. A large-scale 2011 study from the Netherlands found treated transsexuals had much higher than normal death rates due to suicide, drug abuse, AIDS, and so on. Then again, other studies have concluded that while post-ops have high suicide rates, pre-ops’ are even higher.

 

The subject deserves more investigation. If I were desperate enough to consider sex reassignment surgery seriously, I’d still want to be damn sure it would help.

– Cecil Adams

NEW: THE STRAIGHT DOPE PODCAST! No time for retro print technology? Listen to the Straight Dope while you multitask! Launch iTunes, then search for “Straight Dope” in the iTunes Store. Click on “subscribe” and Cecil’s latest installment of wisdom will be automatically delivered each week.

 

 

This Article Appeared @ http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3066/are-transsexuals-mentally-ill

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *