Books and publications

Gender Dysphoria

A Therapeutic Model for Working with Children, Adolescents and Young Adults

Keynote A thoughtful exploration of gender dysphoria to provide a psychoanalytic model for understanding, assessing, and treating trans identifying individuals.

Key Features & Highlights • Aimed primarily at clinicians but also of interest to other professionals, parents, and the gender dysphoric person. • Contains a foreword from Stephen B. Levine, an American psychiatrist known for his work on human sexuality, and a preface from David Bell, consultant psychiatrist and past President of the British Psychoanalytical Society. • A contentious topic is dealt with sensitively by two authors with over two decades’ experience in the field.

In recent years, there has been an explosion in the number of children and young people who diagnose themselves as gender dysphoric, or trans. Worldwide, there is a growing tendency to refer them on to ‘specialist’ gender services where they are increasingly likely to be offered life-altering medication and/or surgical treatments, often with little exploration of their emotional world. As so little is yet known or understood regarding this increase, it seems precipitous to proceed onto physical treatments before any assessment work is undertaken.

Many who present with gender incongruence have comorbidity and/or complex mental health needs; therefore, all aspects of the individual’s life deserve thorough assessment and therapeutic work. Using a psychoanalytic framework, the authors provide a clinical model which aims to assist professionals in trying to think with, and offer understanding to, their gender dysphoric patients.

Clinical examples are given to illustrate these processes and promote the understanding of gender incongruent patients’ internal worlds and interpersonal relationships. The book also includes an overview of the current political, social, and clinical environments which have all impacted on the clinical care of trans identifying individuals