Does Gender Dysphoria Ever Goes Away?
Dr. Z talks about whether gender dysphoria ever fully goes away—a question a lot of people ask, especially people who haven't started transition yet and are wondering whether transition would completely eliminate the presence of gender dysphoria.
It's a really important valid question. Research on people going through transition and outcomes is usually more tailored toward surgical transition—trying to measure positive outcomes of having surgery and whether surgery helped individuals live happier lives. Research documents that higher rate of people who go through gender surgery are living much happier lives. But whether gender dysphoria goes away is not as studied aggressively.
Does gender dysphoria ever fully go away? It's hard to say because it depends on individual cases and many different factors. Dr. Z has observed individuals who transitioned much younger—very lucky to be acculturated and socialized in their preferred gender at early age, which really helped completely alleviate gender dysphoria. For people who are older and transition later in life (maybe age 30 and up), gender dysphoria tends to continue even after transition.
Watch to find out how gender dysphoria takes on different form post-transition (social dysphoria, body dysmorphia), what factors determine if it goes away, and why adaptability and resilience matter.
