The Clinical Practice With Transsexuals in the South of Brazil

Abstract

Within the transgender population there is a subgroup of patients with Gender Dysphoria (GD) who experience suffering and seek changes in their primary and secondary sexual characteristics, either through hormonal therapy or through sexual reassignment surgery. Such procedures aim at an improvement of the adaptation between the body and the mind of these patients. The GD Program (PROTIG) of the Hospital de Clínicas of Porto Alegre (HCPA), for almost two decades, has tended for these patients with a multidisciplinary team for the GD in Brazil. The program meets National Health System (SUS) standards (free public service). (1) Among the most common problems seen in clinical practice, aspects such as personal rights (social inclusion in the labor market, use of the social name), sex education (condom use and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and sexual risk behavior) and adaptation after performing the sexual reassignment surgery (male or female), are among those which occur more frequently. In order to minimize these demands and the patient's suffering, psychoeducational actions are carried out as a guide to name and gender exchange, professional and educational qualification, as well as emotional support for affective relationships, those being social or in the family. The meetings take place every two weeks and last for fifty minutes. These activities are linked to clinical and academic-scientific practice and aim to measure specific characteristics of this population.