By Lincoln Brown
While not eliminating transgender treatment for children, England’s National Health Service is at least tightening the rules regarding medical and social gender transitioning. The NHS is issuing new rules when it comes to the transgender process. The new guidelines focus on emotional health over a medical approach, place doctors in charge, and even state that gender dysphoria is often just a phase of life.
Children who were—or believed they were—experiencing gender dysphoria have been referred to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. The Trust operates two clinics in England where the child meets not with physicians but with an array of therapists and psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers. Depending on the findings, the child might undergo therapy and counseling, including family therapy, or be referred to the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Service. Children may also be prescribed puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. The NHS site includes the statement that at the initial stages, the focus is on psychiatric treatment: “This is because in many cases gender variant behaviour or feelings disappear as children reach puberty.
But the NHS is tightening the reins on transgender treatments. Reuters notes that physicians have had harsh words for the process, which tends to rush children toward changing their genders. Families of children who wish to transition are reportedly upset that the process is becoming bogged down because of increased demand for treatment.