LogFAQs > #929954260

yutterh posted...

Not pandering to them is different then demonizing them.

As far as laypeople are concerned? Not really. For non-medical people, you either support them (which can and should include encouraging them to seek medical advice instead of taking things into their own hands - support and respect are not mutually exclusive of concern) or you don't, and the latter entails delegitimizing them by telling them that what they think/feel is wrong. Treatment approaches are, naturally, more nuanced than that, but none of us are making those decisions.

yutterh posted...

The treatment shouldn't be to just go with it. Like I have chronic depression and suicidal thoughts. The treatment shouldnt be let me kill my self. These people need to come to terms with their disorder and accept that they are in the wrong. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The first step in recovery or control is to accept it.

Depression is not gender dysphoria, which is not OCD, which is not ADHD, which is not schizophrenia. There's no blanket approach to treating mental illnesses. What works is what works, and it's not the place of laypeople to decide what works. It's not about patients being right or wrong, it's about making whatever changes are necessary to improve the patient's quality of life and minimize harm. Figuring out how to do that is the job of doctors. The rest of us just advise people who are considering things like this to talk to a doctor before going ahead with anything drastic.

SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

I see this as the same as saying "oops, grew the wrong genitals". You can't be in the wrong body. You can't be accustomed to not having a feature your body has always had. You have never experienced not having it. So what basis do they have for comparison to say that something shouldn't be there?

Mostly that humans are capable of abstract thought. You don't have to experience something directly to believe that it would be better than what you've got. That said, what you're saying is exactly why doctors advising a transgendered patient have that patient live as their target sex for a couple years before performing any actual medical procedures on them. If that doesn't help, then whatever dysphoric feelings the patient was having aren't going to be solved by transitioning and should be approached differently. If it does, then transitioning is the way to go.
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