Transgender people may seek medical intervention to alter their physical appearance via the use of hormone replacement therapy or surgery. These options aim to alter a person’s body to be better aligned with their mind with a view to reducing the distress they face, improving their quality of life.
Such treatments may be referred to as a form of “gender affirming care”, although gender affirming care is a broad umbrella which may encompass many other treatments both medical or otherwise.
IMPORTANT
None of the information on this website is to be taken as medical advice. If you have concerns about your health or treatment options, always discuss them with a licensed medical professional.
Not All Trans People Seek Medical Intervention
Being transgender is rooted in a fixed and unwavering knowledge about who a person knows themselves to be, and no amount of therapy or surgery will change this. What medical treatments seek to do, however; is allow a person’s body to align better with their sense of self. To that end, although medical intervention is vital for many transgender people, for many people avoiding medical treatment is just as valid a pathway.
There are many reasons why a transgender person may choose not to seek medical intervention, which can include but are not limited to:
- Social Stigma Plenty of people would face difficulty from their peers if they seek medical treatment. Some people may be at particularly high risk from others if they were to publicly announce they are trans.
- Existing Health Conditions All treatments that actually work come with risk, and people with existing health conditions may not be able to undergo certain medical treatments or operations. This can impact the treatment options available when seeking a particular treatment pathway.
- Personal Needs Some people simply may not want to alter their physical appearance with medical treatments. There’s no single one way to be transgender, and everyone should be able to seek the treatment pathway that is best suited to them.
Physical Treatments
This section refers to treatments intended to control or alter a person’s physical appearance.
Psychological Treatments
The way a transgender person is able to socialise plays a significant role in their quality of life, and learning to socialise in a way which someone finds comfortable for them can be a lengthy process.
Being transgender is not a mental illness, however; there are aspects of it which can be psychologically distressing.
With these things in mind, talk therapies or social adjustments are a great asset in helping a person build the tools they need to live happily.
- Social Transition Living life in the gender which feels true to a person is a vital for their quality of life. While this may be something that most people never even have to consider, for a transgender person, communicating those needs to their peers and choosing to live life as they want can be very positive.
- General Purpose Talk Therapies / Counselling Gaining access to specialist care can be quite challenging and expensive, but counselling is available in many forms. Even a counsellor who doesn’t specialise in gender dysphoria management may still be able to help with general support and aid in building up healthy habits to manage life’s difficulties.
- Specialist Gender Dysphoria Talk Therapy There are services available especially designed to aid transgender patients. These may be more expensive and harder to find in a particular area, but will ultimately serve to provide a more targeted approach to dealing with gender dysphoria and the stress that is associated with it.
CONVERSION THERAPY CAUSES SIGNIFICANT AND LASTING HARM TO IT’S RECIPIENTS
See the section on Conversion Therapy for more information.