Gender dysphoria in individuals with psychotic disorders can be adequately diagnosed and safely treated with gender affirming psychological, endocrine, and surgical therapies, finds a new paper using a few case studies in LGBT Health.
Julia Meijer, MD, PhD, Guus Eeckhout, MD, Roy van Vlerken, MD, and Annelou de Vries, MD, PhD, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, describe the small series of case studies involving transgender men and women ages 29-57 years diagnosed with gender dysphoria and schizophrenia-related disorders who underwent gender affirmative treatment with a minimum follow-up of 3 years.
The authors explore the challenges in diagnosis and treatment of this patient population and offer recommendations for overcoming them. They discuss complicating factors, such as when the overt expression of gender dysphoria follows the onset of psychotic symptoms.
“Gender dysphoria in the context of a coexisting psychotic disorder can be mistaken for a gender-themed delusion; however, Dr. Meijer and colleagues show that it can be accurately differentiated from psychosis and safely treated with adherence to and satisfaction with gender affirming therapies,” says LGBT Health Editor-in-Chief William Byne, MD, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.
Citation: Meijer Julia H., Eeckhout Guus M., van Vlerken Roy H.T., and de Vries Annelou L.C., 'Gender Dysphoria and Co-Existing Psychosis: Review and Four Case Examples of Successful Gender Affirmative Treatment', LGBT Health. April 2017, 4(2): 106-114. doi:10.1089/lgbt.2016.0133.