Demarginalizing Stigmatized Identities of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Individuals Through Affirmative Group Therapy

Abstract

ABSTRACT Drawing from the existing literature on minority stress and stigma, this article highlights challenges – psychological, social, and interpersonal – confronting transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals in relation to their gender identity and expression. TGNC individuals are at risk for poor health due to societal stigma and stressors they face as a gender minority group. Further, TGNC individuals may experience stigma in different shapes and forms; specifically, stigma may occur as enacted, felt, internalized, and anticipated stigma. In maintaining an identity that is socially devalued but often invisible to others, TGNC individuals confront additional challenges in negotiating the risks and benefits of disclosing their stigmatized identity. Affirmative group therapy is proposed as a strength-based and social justice–oriented approach for demarginalizing TGNC individuals’ stigmatized identity. Group therapists are called on to address how forms of stigma impact TGNC individuals within and outside of the group, provide validation and space for practicing disclosure, highlight their strengths and resilience, and serve as social justice advocates.