"I am particularly concerned about the situation of male detransitioners, whose stories often contradict dominant feminist accounts of why men choose to transition. I would argue that those of us who have spent years reflecting on issues of masculine identity are particularly well placed to offer these young men support, and that we have a responsibility to do so."
The NHS also has a responsibility to do so, having been responsible for causing harm. As a mental health professional, do you feel that the NHS is equipped to provide the sort of support to male detransitioners that you are thinking of?
I am wondering too if you have consulted and had any feedback from detransitioners about the sort of support that you think would help?
Somewhere I came across a statement from a clinical psychologist that the popularity of CBT had plummeted as the valourization of victimhood took off.
Detransitioners seem to be characterised by a refusal to see themselves as victims and instead seem sometimes to take on too much responsibility for what they have been through. I wonder how much "detransition" is due to a rejection of victimhood and its trappings?
Ritchie Herron prefers to call detransition "recovery", in part to emphasise lack of belief that "transition" is possible. This rejection of a mindset and status seems significant paired with the positive notion of "recovery". We cannot turn back time but we can "re-cover" and move on to a better place.
Ritchie's explanations about "detransition" being a mental and social rather than necessarily physical and cosmetic transformation brought home the incredible challenges detransitioners face in addition to dealing with the physical harm to their bodies.
Many thanks for your feedback Genderwang. Personally I don't think the NHS is equipped to support male detransitioners. This is because they will need support from practitioners who are informed about issues of sex and gender, have a positive orientation towards men and maleness, and have a nuanced understanding of the particular qualities of male experience. There simply aren't many of these practitioners around, in either the public or the private sector. There are exceptions of course - for instance, the Male Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society is doing amazing work.
I made some attempts to reach out to male detransitioners last summer, but didn't get very far. Unfortunately since then I've had a lot of life stuff to deal with, including an international move. I've also had to step away from the gender stuff for a little while, for the sake of my own mental health. Hopefully I'll be able to become more active again over the course of this year.
Your point about CBT becoming less popular is a fascinating one. There has always been disagreement between those who say mental health services should aim to help people fit in better with society, and those who argue that society itself is broken and therefore clinicians should become activists. At the moment the latter view certainly seems to be the more popular one. I think you and I would agree that, when taken to an extreme, this outlook can be profoundly disempowering, leading both professionals and distressed individuals to become mired in frustration, resentment and hostility. Surely insisting that the world should change to accommodate you, rather than the other way around, is the definition of 'maladaptive'?
I think Ritchie is absolutely right to talk about detransition in terms of recovery. Transition, in the modern sense at least, is after all a dream, a fantasy. Giving up on that fantasy opens up the possibility of reaching some sort of accommodation with reality, which - I would argue - is ultimately what life is all about.
I hope you will write more about this:
"I am particularly concerned about the situation of male detransitioners, whose stories often contradict dominant feminist accounts of why men choose to transition. I would argue that those of us who have spent years reflecting on issues of masculine identity are particularly well placed to offer these young men support, and that we have a responsibility to do so."
The NHS also has a responsibility to do so, having been responsible for causing harm. As a mental health professional, do you feel that the NHS is equipped to provide the sort of support to male detransitioners that you are thinking of?
I am wondering too if you have consulted and had any feedback from detransitioners about the sort of support that you think would help?
Somewhere I came across a statement from a clinical psychologist that the popularity of CBT had plummeted as the valourization of victimhood took off.
Detransitioners seem to be characterised by a refusal to see themselves as victims and instead seem sometimes to take on too much responsibility for what they have been through. I wonder how much "detransition" is due to a rejection of victimhood and its trappings?
Ritchie Herron prefers to call detransition "recovery", in part to emphasise lack of belief that "transition" is possible. This rejection of a mindset and status seems significant paired with the positive notion of "recovery". We cannot turn back time but we can "re-cover" and move on to a better place.
Ritchie's explanations about "detransition" being a mental and social rather than necessarily physical and cosmetic transformation brought home the incredible challenges detransitioners face in addition to dealing with the physical harm to their bodies.
Many thanks for your feedback Genderwang. Personally I don't think the NHS is equipped to support male detransitioners. This is because they will need support from practitioners who are informed about issues of sex and gender, have a positive orientation towards men and maleness, and have a nuanced understanding of the particular qualities of male experience. There simply aren't many of these practitioners around, in either the public or the private sector. There are exceptions of course - for instance, the Male Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society is doing amazing work.
I made some attempts to reach out to male detransitioners last summer, but didn't get very far. Unfortunately since then I've had a lot of life stuff to deal with, including an international move. I've also had to step away from the gender stuff for a little while, for the sake of my own mental health. Hopefully I'll be able to become more active again over the course of this year.
Your point about CBT becoming less popular is a fascinating one. There has always been disagreement between those who say mental health services should aim to help people fit in better with society, and those who argue that society itself is broken and therefore clinicians should become activists. At the moment the latter view certainly seems to be the more popular one. I think you and I would agree that, when taken to an extreme, this outlook can be profoundly disempowering, leading both professionals and distressed individuals to become mired in frustration, resentment and hostility. Surely insisting that the world should change to accommodate you, rather than the other way around, is the definition of 'maladaptive'?
I think Ritchie is absolutely right to talk about detransition in terms of recovery. Transition, in the modern sense at least, is after all a dream, a fantasy. Giving up on that fantasy opens up the possibility of reaching some sort of accommodation with reality, which - I would argue - is ultimately what life is all about.