Transgender Mental Health
Anxiety, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Mood Disorder, Personality disorders, Eating disorders and Depression are all examples of mental health issues that around one in five Australians will experience at some point in their lives. Mental illnesses significantly affect how a person thinks, behaves and interacts with other people and can develop in many transgender and gender questioning people due to the prejudice and discrimination faced on a daily basis by many within our community.
The Mental Health section of the Gender Centre's website contains a number of articles about mental health in relation to transgender and gender questioning people and in time this section will also include other resources such as books, book reviews, research papers, videos, links to other mental health related services and more. The articles below are just a few of the articles currently on the Mental Health page of this website.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND TRANSGENDER
Article appeared in Polare 80, July 2009
The Inner City Legal Centre introduces the 'Safe Relationships Project', an initiative that aims to provide a new domestic violence advocacy, information and referral service, a specialist service that offers court assistance and support for transgender people ...
SHORT OUTLINE OF ISSUES THAT ARISE FOR TRANSGENDERED INDIVIDUALS
Article appeared in Polare 92, July 2012
Ami B. Kaplan, psychotherapist specialising in gender, presents this outline of mental health issues that arise for transgendered individuals, particularly those affecting one's emotional and psychological state ...
LISA WINS THE BATTLE TO BECOME HERSELF
Article appeared in Polare 23, February 1998
Lisa was beside herself with confusion and despair and she'd regularly burst into tears at her work. Her Counsellor however, suggested that she live only one life and that she stop having a war between her female and male selves, as in wars, nobody wins and people die ...
WITHIN THE FAMILY, SCHOOLYARD, WORKPLACE, THE MEDIA AND BY THOSE WE DEPEND UPON
Article appeared in Polare 87, April 2011
Bullying is endemic in all walks of life, but a civilised and egalitarian society attempts to eliminate it as much as humanly possible. However marginalised groups like Intersex, Sex and/or Gender Diverse people can be particularly targeted within the greater society ...
REPRESSION OF QUESTIONS ABOUT, BEHAVIOUR ASSOCIATED WITH, OR SELF-IDENTIFYING WITH A TRANSGENDER IDENTIFICATION
Article appeared in Polare 22, December 1997
Atype of child abuse that affects transgender people is Gender Identity Developmental Repressive Abuse. It forces children to repress questions about gender identity, cross-gendered play-acting and behaviour, or from self-identifying with a transgender identification ...
EVEN A SINGLE ACT CAN HAVE A MASSIVELY DETRIMENTAL EFFECT TO SOMEONE'S MENTAL HEALTH
Article appeared in Polare 93, October 2012
While bullying is often thought of as an experience most likely to be encountered by children and adolescents, it is also a reality in adult life for those unfortunate enough to encounter adult bullies. We know that bullies exist everywhere - in our school system, in universities and workplaces ...
TACKLING ONE OF THE BEST UNDERSTOOD MENTAL ILLNESSES
Article appeared in Polare 58, July 2004
Depression is the leading mental health issue facing all people, transgender or not. With this knowledge it must be understood that it doesn't mean having a transgender identity or fulfilling cross-dressing needs is pathological, mentally disordered or medically diseased ...
MOST OF US UNDERSTAND LIVING WITH FEAR
Article appeared in Polare 40, December 2000
Living with fear is something most of us grow with. Fear of the unknown, fear of being seen, fear of being detected or abuse, fear of losing family, home, friends, there is so much fear, and while it can influence parts of our life, it certainly shouldn't dominate it ...
OF A QUEER CELIBATE FEMALE TRANSGENDERED BIOLOGICALLY DETERMINED ANDROGYNY MALE-TO-FEMALE TRANSSEXUAL MALE
Article appeared in Polare 15, October 1996
Giselle's inability to be male and then relate to herself cross-genderdly began before she could talk. This dichotomy has lead her to experience life as being confusing and deeply painful psychologically ...
NEVER NATURAL BECAUSE THE NATURAL IS HIDDEN
Article appeared in Polare 10, December 1995
What does it mean when whatever you say or do is wrong, never enough, never right, appropriate, or what's expected? When what is inside must be hidden, to reveal it would invite ridicule ...
A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT
Article appeared in Polare 93, October 2012
Trans people experience higher than average rates of some mental health issues. It is not surprising then, that ongoing and widespread socio-cultural stigmatisation and marginalisation can have enduring personal consequences ... including anxiety and depression - up to and including suicide ...
A MOST TRAGIC RESULT OF IRRESPONSIBLE AND BIGOTED JOURNALISM
Article appeared in Polare 95, April 2013
Gender Centre Counsellor, Anthony Carlino discusses the recent suicide of British school teacher, Lucy Meadows following bigoted media reports, from one journalist in particular ...
APPARENTLY OUR MERE EXISTENCE IS AMUSING
Article appeared in Polare 34, December 1999
Barely a week goes by without a newspaper article or television show making fun of transsexuals. Apparently our mere existence is amusing in its own right. It seems that when trans-anything is concerned even the most respected journalists become tabloid journalists ...
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE
Article appeared in Polare 104, August 2015
Acomparison of psychological services available to Intersex, Trans and Gender Diverse people in regards to a physical transition in Australia ...
THE CATCH 22 OF TRANSGENDER
Article appeared in Polare 63, May 2005
Transgender has its own built in Catch 22. You need very high self-esteem to successfully deal with being transgendered, but simply being transgendered is one of the great forces sapping your self-esteem. But don't despair! Julie has discovered a loophole. ...
