What mental health supports do people with intersex variations want, and when? Person-centred trauma-informed lifecycle care

Abstract

Several large-scale surveys around the world show the most frequently reported mental health diagnoses among people with intersex variations include depression, anxiety and PTSD. Wellbeing risks are also high, with individuals with intersex variations citing suicidal thoughts or attempts across their life-course – specifically on the basis of issues related to having congenital sex variations. The population mostly attributed their wellbeing risks to negative social responses from others, difficulties around having undergone interventions, or issues around gender/identity. In the Canadian context, there is a lack of formalised, charitable Canadian wide intersex networks, advocacy groups, universal mental health care approaches, or provincial signposting to services similar to those developed elsewhere. Using a life-cycle lens, a group of international researchers came together in this collaborative Canadian study to explore health care transitions that people with intersex variations might need or desire, at various stages of their life. A key finding from this ongoing study is that transition phases have the capacity to be especially difficult in the context of mental health, such that integrating person-centred and trauma-informed approaches into care with this population is both wanted and needed. This paper specifically takes a case study approach which analyses data from two participants who identified three major themes regarding mental health impacts: ‘worth, mastery, and adequacy’, ‘isolation and inferiority’, and ‘identity and integrity’. The fourth and final theme drew on integrated medicine to celebrate emerging ‘resilience and generativity’; a positive experience that had emancipatory benefits across the lifespan.