Who Submits a Request to the Psychiatrist for a Gender Change: Results of a 30-Year Study

Abstract

Background: despite the significant increase in demand for gender change interventions observed over the past few years, the mechanisms for increasing the number of transgender people are rarely studied.The Aim: to analyze the frequency and structure of patients’ requests for a certificate of gender change. Material: 179 medical records of patients who applied for a certificate of gender change in the Medical and Rehabilitation Research center “PHOENIX” during the period from 1991 to 2020.Materials and Methods: clinical, mathematical, statistical.Results: over the past decade, there has been an increase in cases of patients seeking to change their gender compared to the period from 2000 to 2009. Basically, this increase is due to a marked increase of the number of patients with schizophrenic spectrum disorders with sexual identification disorders compared to the previous two decades. The connection between the increased frequency of sexual identification disorders in endogenous diseases and the modern information environment is revealed.Conclusions: it seems that the revealed change in the frequency and clinical structure of requests for sex change is due to the social pathomorphosis of schizophrenic spectrum disorders. A point of view based on established regularities is expressed by the necessary measures to improve assistance to persons suffering from sexual identification disorders. These measures, taking into account the medical and social dualism of the problem, should be based equally on natural-scientific reality, clinical evidence, ideas of humanism and legal norms of a democratic secular society.