For those in the UK

[JesusA (imported)]

The Trans Mental Health Study 2012 has just received an important award. The entire report is available for download at the site listed below. It can provide valuable ammunition for those needing to consult with medical personnel. The following email arrived this morning:

The Trustees of GIRES are very pleased to announce that its latest research award has been made to the authors of the Trans Mental Health Study 2012:

> Jay McNeil

> Louis Bailey

> Sonja Ellis

> James Morton

> Maeve Regan

The Study is based on an online survey that generated responses from 889 people who had personal experience of transgender healthcare. The Study may be viewed at:

http://www.gires.org.uk/assets/Medpro-A ... _study.pdf

The publication of the Study coincides with the development of new UK standards of care for gender dysphoria in adults and substantial changes in the commissioning of NHS specialist care for transgender people. The Study factually justifies a major and sustained effort to improve treatment in several of the gender identity clinics and within general practice.

The Study shows that:

> 42 % had waited at least a year to be seen within a gender identity clinic

> 58% felt that waiting had led to a worsening of their mental health or emotional wellbeing

> 46 % of those seen at a gender identity clinic had experienced difficulties that included administrative errors, restrictive protocols, problematic attitudes and unnecessary questions/tests

> 20 % had wanted to harm themselves in relation to or because of involvement with a gender identity clinic or health service

The Study reinforces the case for offering speedy and benign treatment:

> 85 % were more satisfied with their body since undertaking hormone therapy

> 74 % felt that their mental health had improved as a result of transitioning

One of the interesting questions on the survey was about gender identity and was asked as "Which of the following best describes you?"

Rather than the usual "male" vs. "female," a variety of options were given, including ones that were clearly outside the binary: "Constant and clear non-binary" (8% chose this) and "Variable or fluid non-binary" (chosen by 15%). "No gender identity," "Unsure," and "Other" totaled 12% of their population of 889 survey respondents.

On an open-ended question, respondents choosing "other" were asked to describe their gender identity:

"I say I am genderqueer as I don’t see myself as male or female, but go under trans guy to simplify things."

"I’m sceptical about gender in general. I definitely don’t feel female and I’m generally comfortable being treated socially as male. But I think I have a constant and clear transmasculine identity (somewhere between male and non-binary)."

"A year ago, my gender identity was Not Woman. I now identify as male, but part of the reason for that is that it’s easier than identifying as non-binary. If there were more accepted genders, I would probably be ‘just masculine of centre."

"I would almost say “constant and clear non-binary”, except I have put so much time and energy into my physical and official transition from binary-male to binary-female that to do so feels like a betrayal, of both myself and of the women I met in the process. I needed badly to transition away from maleness, and in order to get that I had to represent myself to various doctors and psychotherapists as being clearly and consistently female, which, while less wrong than my assigned gender, is not quite on the mark. I know that some of my comrades in the journey were in the same position."

[jcat (imported)]

Thank You Jesus!