Treament of Gender Identity Disoder (GID)

Hormone therapy and psychotherapy have been used to help some people with this disorder to adopt the gender role they believe represents their true identity. For others, however, this is not enough, they might choose to undergo one of the most controversial practices in medicine : Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS), in which the person' genitals are changed to match the gender identity.  This surgery is preceded by one to two years of hormone therapy. The operation itself involves, for men, amputation of the penis, creation of an artificial vagina, and face-changing plastic surgery. For women, surgery may include bilateral mastectomy, hysterectomy and phalloplasty. Clinicians have heatedly debated whether surgery is an appropriate treatment for GID. Some consider it a humane solution, perhaps the most satisfying one to people with the disorder (Cohen-Kettenis &Gooren, 1999). Others argue that transsexual surgery is a "drastic nonsolution" for a largely psychological problem. The long term psychological outcome of surgical sex reassignment is not clear. Some people seem to function well for years after such treatment, but others experience psychological difficulties (Lewins, 2002; Michel et al., 2002)

 

My experience with LGBT

In term of my personal experience, I have a few transman friends who have gone SRS, they  function well in their social and occupational life, some even hold managerial position in the organization.  They did admit that this was a difficult journey, however, the satisfaction  they gain from being in their true identity is indeed worth living for them.

James and Jan - Feeling like a woman trapped in a man's body, the British writer James Morris (top) underwent Sex Reassignment Surgery, described in his 1974 autobiography, Conundrum. Today Jan Morris (bottom) is a successful author and seems comfortable with her change of gender

References

Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., & Gooren, L. J. (1999). Transsexualism: A review of etiology, diagnosis and treatment. J. Psychosom. Res., 46(4), 315-333

Comer, R.J. (2007). Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology (5th ed). New York: Worth Publisher

Lewins, F (2002). Explaining stable partnerships among FTMs and MTFs: A significant difference? J. Sociol, 38(1), 76-88

Michel, A., Ansseau, M., Legros, J.-J., Pitchot, W., & Mormont, C. (2002). The transsexual: What about the future. Eur. Psychiat., 176(6), 353-362