Faculty Bibliography

As more young people feel safe to outwardly identify as transgender or gender expansive (TGE), meaning that their gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth, an increasing number of youth who identify as TGE seek gender-affirming medical care (GAMC). GAMC raises a number of ethical questions, such as the capacity of a minor to assent or consent, the role of parents or legal guardians in decisions about treatment, and implications for equitable access to care when differing parental or custodial viewpoints are present. These questions are further complicated by the difficulties in explaining the limits of long-term research in GAMC, with regard to the preservation of fertility, for example. We present two de-identified composite case studies to highlight dilemmas that may arise and offer recommendations to better support patient- and family-centered decision making for GAMC. These include employing a multidisciplinary shared decision-making approach, disentangling informed consent and assent from chronological age, developing a consistent approach to the assessment of decisional capacity, and developing age-appropriate informational materials.

For individuals with gender dysphoria, gender-affirming surgeries (GAS) are one means of reducing the significant distress associated with primary and secondary sex characteristics misaligned with their gender identity. This article uses a systematic review to examine the existing literature on the psychological benefits of GAS. Findings from this review indicate that GAS can lead to multiple, significant improvements in psychological functioning. Methodological differences in the literature demonstrate the need for additional research to draw more definitive conclusions about the psychological benefits of GAS.

Gender variance and dysphoria are present across all classes, ethnicities, and experiences, including among those with severe and chronic mental illness. In these, our most vulnerable populations, adequate assessment and treatment of gender dysphoria often is overlooked despite evidence that appropriate treatment of gender dysphoria leads to improvement in psychological functioning (Smith, van Goozen, Kuiper, & Cohen-Kettenis, 2005). The World Professional Association for Transgender Health recommend in their Standards of Care that somatic and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria should be made available to those with medical or mental illness with the caveat that "[the illness] must be reasonably well-controlled (2011)." In this article, we will utilize case-based material to elucidate the challenges of treating gender dysphoria in the context of complex mental illness such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and sexual trauma, and the pitfalls of defining "well-controlled" for the sake of treatment.

Although a number of effective psychotherapies for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are available, there is a need to develop alternative treatments for those who may not respond optimally to these treatments or who may not have access to clinicians who can competently deliver them. Narrative writing, which involves repeated recounting about a traumatic event in writing, is one treatment that deserves further examination as a potential alternative. In this paper, we describe the most commonly used narrative writing treatment protocols for those with either a diagnosis of PTSD or probable PTSD and discuss the available efficacy data for each of these protocols. We conclude with recommendations for using narrative writing to treat those with PTSD and offer recommendations for future work in this area.

BACKGROUND: Previous research suggests that hoarding aggregates in families and is associated with health and safety risks and family problems. The present study examined gender- and diagnosis-related differences in reports of hoarding symptoms among first-degree relatives of people who hoard, and of clinical and community samples. METHODS: The present study included 443 participants in a study of hoarding behavior: 217 with hoarding disorder (HD), 96 with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and 130 nonclinical community controls (CC). Assessment included a detailed interview of familial patterns of hoarding behaviors among parents and siblings and measures of hoarding severity. RESULTS: In the combined sample, participants reported more hoarding among female (mothers, sisters) than male (fathers, brothers) relatives. Significantly more female than male participants indicated they had a parent or any first-degree relative with hoarding behaviors. However, within the HD sample no significant gender effects were found for household, safety, and functioning variables, or for hoarding symptom severity. In an age- and gender-matched subsample (total n = 150), HD participants reported more hallmark hoarding symptoms (difficulty discarding and saving/clutter), and acquiring among their relatives compared to OCD and CC samples, and parents had higher rates than siblings. CONCLUSIONS: Hoarding symptoms appear to be common among first-degree relatives of people who hoard and are also found among relatives of control samples. The predominance of hoarding symptoms among female relatives may indicate genetic or modeling transmission but this requires further study using large twin samples. Clinicians should consider that family members may also have significant hoarding symptoms.