Depression And Anxiety In Transgender People
Depression and Anxiety in Transgender People
Jace M. Hodson
Introduction
Spike in Interest In Transgender Research As interest in the psychology community has spiked in regards to transgender people, so has the amount of research done involving and pertaining to them. Many researchers have chosen to focus on the relationship between being transgender and having a mental disorder(s). Research seeks to find if there is a correlation between being transgender and having symptoms of one or more mental disorders, and what causes mental disorders in transgender people. Specifically, anxiety and depression (anxiety disorder and depressive disorder, respectively) are the two mood disorders most commonly associated with being transgender. …show more content…
Transphobic acts can include, but aren’t limited to, physical assault, sexual assault, verbal harassment, and the intentional misgendering of a person (calling an FTM “she” or an MTF “he”). These transphobic acts can cause or lead to larger amounts of “isolation, depression, anxiety, suicide, violent victimization, substance abuse, pregnancy, and school or job failure” in transgender people than cisgender peers (Health Risks, 2011). All transgender people report experiencing anywhere from a moderate to high amount transphobia in their lives (Rotondi et al., 2011). As one could imagine, these acts can be very damaging to a transgender person, to the point of causing mental distress and even …show more content…
Though transgender people in present times face fewer emotional disturbances than transgender people did a mere ten years ago, the percentages are still very significant and very much higher than those of cisgender people (Meier et al., 2013). Prevention of depression and anxiety in transgender people should, according to Bockting et al. (2013), face the problems of “social structures, norms, and attitudes that produce minority stress for gender-variant people”, as well as providing peers with a better understanding and ability to support their transgender friends, and perhaps most importantly, an increased access to “mental health and social services that affirm transgender identity and promote resilience.” This seems like a hefty task, to attempt to change social structures, but it will come in time. However, for the current time being, it would be in the best interest of the mental health of transgender people for resources to be made more widely available to seek therapy that reinforces identity and mental health, as well as promoting the education of cisgender people in a way that they would be able to understand and support transgender
Jace M. Hodson
Introduction
Spike in Interest In Transgender Research As interest in the psychology community has spiked in regards to transgender people, so has the amount of research done involving and pertaining to them. Many researchers have chosen to focus on the relationship between being transgender and having a mental disorder(s). Research seeks to find if there is a correlation between being transgender and having symptoms of one or more mental disorders, and what causes mental disorders in transgender people. Specifically, anxiety and depression (anxiety disorder and depressive disorder, respectively) are the two mood disorders most commonly associated with being transgender. …show more content…
Transphobic acts can include, but aren’t limited to, physical assault, sexual assault, verbal harassment, and the intentional misgendering of a person (calling an FTM “she” or an MTF “he”). These transphobic acts can cause or lead to larger amounts of “isolation, depression, anxiety, suicide, violent victimization, substance abuse, pregnancy, and school or job failure” in transgender people than cisgender peers (Health Risks, 2011). All transgender people report experiencing anywhere from a moderate to high amount transphobia in their lives (Rotondi et al., 2011). As one could imagine, these acts can be very damaging to a transgender person, to the point of causing mental distress and even …show more content…
Though transgender people in present times face fewer emotional disturbances than transgender people did a mere ten years ago, the percentages are still very significant and very much higher than those of cisgender people (Meier et al., 2013). Prevention of depression and anxiety in transgender people should, according to Bockting et al. (2013), face the problems of “social structures, norms, and attitudes that produce minority stress for gender-variant people”, as well as providing peers with a better understanding and ability to support their transgender friends, and perhaps most importantly, an increased access to “mental health and social services that affirm transgender identity and promote resilience.” This seems like a hefty task, to attempt to change social structures, but it will come in time. However, for the current time being, it would be in the best interest of the mental health of transgender people for resources to be made more widely available to seek therapy that reinforces identity and mental health, as well as promoting the education of cisgender people in a way that they would be able to understand and support transgender