Transsexual symptoms in a male child treated by a female therapist

Mental Health Evaluation for Gender Confirmation Surgery

The requests for medically necessary surgical interventions for transgender individuals have steadily increased over the past several years. So too has the recognition of the diverse nature of this population. The surgeon relies heavily on the mental health provider to assess the readiness and eligibility of the patient to undergo surgery, which the mental health provider documents in a referral letter to the surgeon. The mental health provider explores the individual's preparedness for surgery, expectations, and surgical goals and communicates with the surgeon and other providers to promote positive outcomes and inform multidisciplinary care.

Sibling sex ratio of boys with gender identity disorder

Sibling sex ratio (the ratio of brothers to sisters) was calculated for 444 boys with gender identity disorder (or with behaviors consistent with this diagnosis). The probands were ascertained from several researchers with expertise with this disorder and from the English language case report literature between 1938 and 1995. Among the probands with at least one sibling (N = 333), the results showed that boys with gender identity disorder had a significant excess of brothers to sisters, 131.1:100, when compared with the expected secondary sex ratio of 106:100. The excess of brothers replicated a previous study by Blanchard, Zucker, Bradley, and Hume (1995), in which the sibling sex ratio was 140.6:100. Further analyses showed that the probands were born later relative to their brothers than they were relative to their sisters. These findings are amenable to several psychosocial and biological explanations, which require further investigation.