Psychological Explanations Of Gender Dysphoria Essay
Discuss explanations of gender dysphoria (8+16)
One psychological explanation is that gender dysphoria is caused by childhood trauma or a maladaptive upbringing.The psychodynamic approach believes that gender dysphoria is a mental disorder. Coates studied one boy who developed gender dysphoria and suggested that this may have been a defensive reaction to his mother’s depression following an abortion. Gender dysphoria is confusion and sufferers experience a strong sense of discomfort whilst feeling that they can relate to the opposite sex better.
However, Coates only studied one boy, therefore there is only 1 case study which makes it difficult to generalise to the wider population. However, some psychologists say that they want to look …show more content…
Studies found that in individuals experiencing gender dysphoria, the range of psychiatric conditions was no greater than in the general population. This suggests that gender dysphoria is unrelated to mental illness, trauma or pathological families.
Childhood trauma is extremely difficult to scientifically prove and is often dependent on retrospective recall which can be inaccurate. If psychology is to be a science, we need to use scientific, objective research.
Research support for psychological explanations of gender dysphoria comes from the finding that boys brought up by single mothers are more likely to develop gender dysphoria due to the lack of male role model in their childhood. However, we do not have any more males suffering from gender dysphoria who were brought up by single mothers than those with a prominent mother and father in their childhood.
A biological explanation states that gender dysphoria is caused by abnormal prenatal exposure to androgens (male hormones). Some genetic conditions can cause discrepancy between hormones and genetic sex (e.g. Cognitive Adrenal Hyperplasia) occurs when genetic females have high levels of androgens which cause them to develop a small penis. The outcome of this may be gender dysphoria as individuals suffer confusion about their gender
One psychological explanation is that gender dysphoria is caused by childhood trauma or a maladaptive upbringing.The psychodynamic approach believes that gender dysphoria is a mental disorder. Coates studied one boy who developed gender dysphoria and suggested that this may have been a defensive reaction to his mother’s depression following an abortion. Gender dysphoria is confusion and sufferers experience a strong sense of discomfort whilst feeling that they can relate to the opposite sex better.
However, Coates only studied one boy, therefore there is only 1 case study which makes it difficult to generalise to the wider population. However, some psychologists say that they want to look …show more content…
Studies found that in individuals experiencing gender dysphoria, the range of psychiatric conditions was no greater than in the general population. This suggests that gender dysphoria is unrelated to mental illness, trauma or pathological families.
Childhood trauma is extremely difficult to scientifically prove and is often dependent on retrospective recall which can be inaccurate. If psychology is to be a science, we need to use scientific, objective research.
Research support for psychological explanations of gender dysphoria comes from the finding that boys brought up by single mothers are more likely to develop gender dysphoria due to the lack of male role model in their childhood. However, we do not have any more males suffering from gender dysphoria who were brought up by single mothers than those with a prominent mother and father in their childhood.
A biological explanation states that gender dysphoria is caused by abnormal prenatal exposure to androgens (male hormones). Some genetic conditions can cause discrepancy between hormones and genetic sex (e.g. Cognitive Adrenal Hyperplasia) occurs when genetic females have high levels of androgens which cause them to develop a small penis. The outcome of this may be gender dysphoria as individuals suffer confusion about their gender