Transgender Children: From Controvery to Dialogue

Abstract

This paper introduces the topic and unique format of the section that follows, on psychoanalytic work with transgender children. We first review the apparent impasse that characterizes our field regarding clinical work with gender diverse kids, as well as the reasons we pursued a live dialog to push thinking forward. Then, we outline the structure of the entire section, in which four contributors offer short essays, followed by a transcribed and edited version of the dialog we facilitated, which uses these essays as a starting point. We conclude with reflections on some of the themes that arise in the dialog, and implications for all of us who work in the arena of gender and young people.

The Psychoanalytic Crisis: The Place of Ego in a Contemporary World

“…This case was based on a patient from the Tavistock Clinic that decided with 16 years old to use suppressants and after the transition preferred to return to the biological gender. At last, the Britannic Justice decided that the children under 16 years old hardly have the competence to decide over the use of medication, modifying the conduct line that has been carried out by the only Britannic public health service that offers this treatment [50].…”

“…Osserman and Wallerstein [50] assert that we are witnessing the growth of psychoanalytic literature that validates the access of teenagers and children to medical intervention, medication, and body mutilation, related to gender identity. This is an alert to the anxieties that emerge from analysts to countertransferential reactions.…”