Galt's Gulch

Agree or Disagree? John Hopkins Doctor: transgenders suffer from mental disorder

Posted by $ blarman 7 years, 11 months ago to Culture
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“This intensely felt sense of being transgendered constitutes a mental disorder in two respects. The first is that the idea of sex misalignment is simply mistaken – it does not correspond with physical reality,” McHugh wrote. “The second is that it can lead to grim psychological outcomes.”

Does the doctor represent reality, or can the human mind really reassign gender?
SOURCE URL: http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/06/03/former-johns-hopkins-chief-of-psychiatry-being-transgender-is-a-mental-disorder-biologically-impossible-210202

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  • Posted by $ Abaco 7 years, 11 months ago
    I'd agree. "...does not correspond with physical reality." It's not much different than if I decided that I was a dolphin.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 7 years, 11 months ago
    The human "Mind" cannot...(outside your head).
    But the brain can be taught or coerced by example or abuse...not to mention choice and yes it is a psychological disorder.
    The R/K selection theory has an interesting take on this...https://www.youtube.com
    /watch?v=Bu6ouKt9zhs

    Many regret their decision to change or behave after a while...which is where these grim outcomes arise.
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  • Posted by $ sjatkins 7 years, 11 months ago
    This is antiquated crap that has been considered quite mistaken for many years now. The fact of the matter is that gender is not so simple as most experience for about 1 in 1000 or so of us. Apparently parts of brain gender dimorphic settings are programmed at a different point in fetal development than other aspects of gender. Reality is not always as straightforward as our assumptions and the normal case lead us to expect.
    It is not human mind reassigning gender arbitrarily. For those of us born this way that our gender is not what it appears on the outside is a painful reality that it takes most of us quite a long time to fully come to grips with and do what we can to live reasonably happily. It is not something to make announcements like this about.
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    • Posted by $ blarman 7 years, 11 months ago
      So you disagree and view gender not as a chromosomal trait but as a mental trait?
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      • Posted by $ sjatkins 7 years, 11 months ago
        Gender identity is an aspect of gender dimorphic fetal "programming" as I understand it. It is usually but unfortunately not always consistent with the chromosomes and the rest of the gender dimorphic fetal programming. This is in fact what appears to happen in that approximately in 1 in 1000 live births this programming is not so consistent. This is not opinion. It is medical fact. The John Hopkins guy is a throwback that is not the standard of medical understanding on this today.
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        • Posted by $ blarman 7 years, 11 months ago
          So explain how fetal programming works according to your assertion. You're talking about overriding one's programming (chromosomes) even before the child has an interactive environment. Call me beyond skeptical here... You would also of necessity be asserting that the child is a child even before they are born - a position not many Objectivists are willing to take because it completely undermines a position justifying abortion...

          "The John Hopkins guy is a throwback..."

          You don't get to be an expert at Johns Hopkins (one of the premier medical facilities in the world) without knowing your stuff. Ad hominem is a flimsy case to make.

          I would also ask you again to clarify: is gender a chromosomal trait or a mental trait? It can't be both...
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