Budge, S.L. (2015). Psychotherapists as gatekeepers: An evidence-based case study highlighting the role and process of letter writing for transgender clients. Psychotherapy, 52(3), 287- 297. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pst0000034
This article was written by a psychotherapist, Dr. Stephanie L. Budge, from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. In it, she outlines the necessary and sometimes daunting task of gatekeeping placed on psychotherapists with trans clients. She does this by presenting the case of one of her clients, a young trans woman for whom she wrote a letter of recommendation for hormone replacement therapy. Budge describes the process of therapy with her client, including the realization that a letter would be required for HRT,
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Timothy Cavanaugh is the director of transgender services at Fenway Health in Boston. He and his team published this article detailing the process of informed consent for hormone therapy treatment available to trans individuals. The most recent Standards of Care, published in 2012, recognize the need for and the validity of informed consent treatment, which allows patients to forego the letters from healthcare practitioners previously required for treatment. Instead, if there are no other physical or mental health concerns and with proper education and preparation, the informed consent model allows patients to receive hormones without these letters and potentially without psychotherapy. The article addresses potential concerns that informed consent provides “hormones on demand” or that it allows clients to start hormones when they are in unstable condition. Cavanaugh provides a strong argument for the acceptance of informed consent treatment, affirming that it reduces the power of a major method of gatekeeping by doctors and therapists. The article also contains an extensive list of references that could be helpful to my research and …show more content…
The last video in the series was about gatekeeping, which Ross has a great amount of personal experience with. In this video, he provides foundational information about what gatekeeping is, how gatekeeping works, who can be gatekeepers, and some suggestions to minimize gatekeeping in the trans community. He shares a personal anecdote about his rejection from a transition clinic in Quebec, which he believes was a direct result of his disclosure that he is “70% male” and 30% something else, which caused the people evaluating him to label him as “not trans enough.” He also addresses issues within every path that can be taken toward medical transition, including the impossibly long waitlists for informed consent hormones, the labeling of who is “trans enough” for treatment and who is not, and the potential loss of financial, educational, or total support from parents of trans children and
The medicalization of transgender tendencies, under what was Gender Identity Disorder, was demoralizing to all transgender people. This resulted in a form of structured and institutionalized inequality that made an entire group of people internalize their problems, making them question not only their own identity, but also their sanity. Therefore, the removal of this disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 2013 and the newest editions was important in that it shows society’s recognition and acceptance of the transgender
A transgender, 25 year old woman named Avery Edison travelling from London, England was detained at Pearson Airport by Canada Border Service Agency. According to her, the reason for her detention was due to an immigration issue involving her overstaying a previous student visa. Despite being identified as a female on her passport, Avery had male genitalia. Avery tweeted that she would be assessed by a nurse before being placed in a male or female cell. However, the fact that she had male genitalia resulted in her being sent to Maplehurst, Correctional Centre in Milton, Ontario which is a prison for males where Avery stayed for one night. In the article, it is stated that Avery had concerns regarding potential sex attacks towards her in the
Imagine going through life believing that you were born into the wrong body. This is how a transgender feels as they go through life. A transgender is a person who whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to male or female sex. This topic is very controversial due to many arguments about the differences between the male and female physique. The natural biological differences between males and a females play a huge role in this controversy. These difference become serious issues when athletes want to compete for their non-biological sex. Michelle Castillo, a freelance writer and editor, believes that once a transgender athlete completes at least one year of hormone therapy, then the athletes should be eligible to compete with the sex of their choice.
Russell first goes wrong is claiming that transgender people are not the gender they identify as. She seems unaware of the fact that transgender folks are similar to their cisgender counterparts mentally and emotionally even if their genitals are not. In fact, according to an Amsterdam-based study found in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology conducted by endocrinologist Richard Swaab found that forty-two brains of transgender individuals that had gone through hormone replacement therapy, showed similar nucleus structures to their cisgender counterparts (p 47). Nicole also seems to be under the impression that transgender youth rely on fleeting emotions to determine their gender when that is not the case. All transgender individuals, regardless of age, are required to attend gender therapy for a minimum of six months in order for them to receive a referral to an endocrinologist who will decide if they are mentally stable enough to understand the full effects of taking hormones. During that time the therapist works with the individual to break down why they may want to transition. The therapist goes over the person’s past, they talk about any forms of abuse they might have faced, and attempt to have the patient build a support group that can help them during their transition. The same process is also required to receive any sex-changing surgeries because doctors will not preform them without written consent from a certified
Nursing theory is one of the first topics taught in nursing school. Nursing theory gives the nurse a base for identifying with their patients, organizing and analyzing information collected, to assist their patient. Many patient populations present with specific issues and concerns; nursing theory aids the nurse in seeing their patients as individuals and helps to tailor care as such. Across the lifespan, people’s needs with respect to health care are constantly changing and for the members of the transgender community this is especially true (McCann & Sharek, 2015). Studies indicate that services available to the transgender community are limited at best; and for the services that are available, healthcare professionals are undereducated and at times insensitive to the needs of this population (McCann & Sharek, 2015). By examining Peplau’s Theory of Interpersonal Relationships, this paper will explore how using this theory will help the nursing professional provide quality care to members of the transgender community.
Furthermore, the article clarifies that many transgender people experience a stage of identity development that aids in helping them better understanding their own self-image reflection, and expression. More specifically, they reach out to professional...
Mental health professional have tried to correct their ‘‘gender identity disorder’’ with brutal aversion therapies. Tran’s youth who came out often faced crises throughout their family and social systems. Once out, developing a sense of realness about their new gender became extremely important. An urgent need develops ‘‘to match one’s exterior with one’s interior’’ In ad...
The eye opening article utilized for this analysis is titled, “Trans Women at Smith: The Complexities of Checking ‘Female’” ,written by contributing writer, Sarah Fraas on August 24, 2014 (pg 683-685). Fraas starts off by introducing the audience with a school that accepts trans women, Mills College, and talks about how glorious this decision is. The author then begins to talk about other schools not as accepting as Mills, especially Smiths College. She spews many facts and analysis on the issues trans women face today throughout the article including how transgender women are not gaining enough support to succeed, most transgendered women are neglected in school, and the fact that many have been accused of being a woman for the “wrong” reason. She also mindfully includes the image of a woman of color holding up a sign saying, “Support your sisters, not just your CIS-ters!”. The author utilizes this image to show people that we are all one whether we
Transgender people in today’s society have it hard enough; going to prison is even harder due to the risks associated to someone who is transgendered. People who are transgendered risk their health and well-being while being locked up in prison. They face a variety of issues while they are incarcerated such as housing, physical, emotional abuse and most of all denial to their basic medical needs that helps express who they are through their gender.
Living life as a transgendered person is not easy. There are very few times when someone comes out as transgender and their lives are still relatively easy to manage. There are a copious...
Currently the citizens living in the United States are imprisoned within the binary of two genders. It is only acceptable for a person to identify as a male or a female. Depending on the gender the person identifies, as there is an expectation of how that person should look and act. The person identifying as the specific gender, must maintain the gender norms that are in place. These gender binaries are so prevalent in our lives; it is to the point where a large group of Americans are being overlooked. This group of Americans identifies as transgender, which means they do not fit society’s expectations of how a specific gender should look and behave. (gaycenter.org, 2012). The trans population does not fit the expected gender molds that are
Multi-Criteria decision Making (MCDM) can be divided into two categories: Multi Attribute Decision Making (MADM) and Multi Objective Decision Making (MODM). During the last few years, the MCDM theory has been applied in many disciplines such as operations research and management science. The theory revolves around ranking a finite number of alternatives based on a set of performance attributes. The decision variables can be quantitative or qualitative. MADM models include discrete variables with a number of pre-specified alternatives and do not require an explicit relation between the input and output variables. As such, most of the MADM models are defined by a decision matrix.
Looking at the Functionalist perspective it is perceived that the transgender community goes against society’s traditional concept of sex and gender. Transgender gender-nonconforming individuals face many obstacles in a society that is unforgiving of any individual who does not fit into the “appropriate” expectations or behaviors of gender identity or a gender binary system. The rules of behavior in our society that are considered “appropriate” for women or men inhibit us all. This is the social construction of gender roles, patterns of socially defined behaviors and expectations that are associated with the female and male; men have to dress, act, and speak in a hard, masculine way, while women are to be feminine and soft. There’s not much room for individuality there and for some of us, this is a little more challenging. There seem to be some misconceptions about gender and sex, I believe it is much more complex than we came to
Government agencies such as the Affordable Care Act law defines no sexual discrimination including gender identity, transgender status prohibits majority of insurance companies and healthcare providers from refusing to cover transition-related treatments or using incorrect pronouns under the law. However, the greatest effect can only occur when we — as an American society — change our paradigm. What we can do to help to contribute the changes of degrading experience for many LGBT people in healthcare setting are educating ourselves and creating more awareness in general public to ensure that everyone needs to be treated equally whoever they are. We should be more open-minded to create a welcoming and acceptable workplace environment inclusive of all trans people, to prevent transgender from getting reluctance to reveal their sexual orientation or gender identity to their health providers by training on the full scope of this minority group health in medical schools, and to keep fighting for the state-laws to ensure equality in for transgender individuals in the public utilities and services since only almost half of U.S. states discriminating against transgenders is considered
Unfortunately, people that identify as transgender do not have the same rights as I do. A transgender person by definition is: “someone whose gender identity-that is, an individual’s internal sense of being male or female-does not align with his or her assigned sex” (Barry). Transgender people can get refused to seen by a doctor, just because they are transgender. A study of how transgender have been discriminated by medical providers was done and the study showed: “Nineteen percent had been refused treatment by a doctor or other provider because of their transgender or gender non-conforming status” (). Broken down by race, the ethnic group that was refused the most was: American Indian (36%), Multi-Racial (27%), Hispanic (22%), Black (19%), White (17%), Asian (15%) and then 19% (Total Sample). Not only can they be refused medical treatment, but doctors and medical professionals can be verbally abusive as well! “Over one quarter of respondents (28%) reported verbal harassment in a doctor’s office, emergency room or other medical setting and 2% of the respondents reported