The gender-affirmative life span approach: A developmental model for clinical work with transgender and gender-diverse children, adolescents, and adults.

The gender-affirmative life span approach (GALA) is an innovative therapeutic framework for promoting the mental health of transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) clients of all ages. Based in interdisciplinary philosophical foundations, GALA proposes that TGD clients can be supported in psychotherapy through (a) developing gender literacy, (b) building resiliency, (c) moving beyond the binary, (d) exploring pleasure-oriented sexuality, and (e) making connections to medical interventions. Psychotherapy incorporating these 5 core components is developmentally tailored for children, adolescents, young adults, or older adults. Developing gender literacy is the process of understanding how sex assigned at birth, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation are distinct but interconnected concepts, as well as learning to identify oppressive practices in TGD people's lives. Building resiliency involves learning how to overcome adversity and effectively cope with challenging situations in life. Resiliency-building also involves having social support networks to share these difficulties and gain support. Gender and sexual binaries pathologize nonconformity and limit the full range of healthy gender and sexual expression. Moving beyond the binary to a spectrum approach allows for the inclusion and affirmation of all gender identities and expressions. Unfortunately, research and practice have largely focused on negative sexual outcomes for TGD people. Thus, age-appropriate psychotherapy aimed at developing sex-positive pleasure and satisfaction is critical. Lastly, gender-competent mental health practitioners need to have knowledge about, and skills to refer for, medical interventions, when appropriate. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Hair removal and psychological well-being in transfeminine adults: associations with gender dysphoria and gender euphoria.

PURPOSE: Hair removal procedures, including electrolysis and laser hair removal, are the most commonly pursued gender-affirmative medical interventions by transfeminine people, but previous empirical studies have not examined their relationship to psychological well-being. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants were 281 transfeminine adults in the United States who responded to an online questionnaire. RESULTS: Satisfaction with one's current state of hair removal was negatively correlated with situational body image dysphoria, depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and negative affect, and positively correlated with positive affect. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study suggest that hair removal is associated with both decreased distress but also increased subjective well-being (e.g. higher positive affect). Though the construct of 'gender euphoria' has been introduced in previous publications, it has thus far not been rigorously defined or operationalized within health research. These results suggest that gender euphoria can be understood in terms of increased subjective well-being associated with gender affirmation, including gender-affirmative medical interventions. This study demonstrates a significant association between hair removal services and depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, situational body image dysphoria, positive affect, and negative affect in transfeminine adults. These findings cast significant doubt on the assertion that hair removal services for transfeminine people are 'cosmetic.'

Creating gender: A thematic analysis of genderqueer narratives.

Background and Aims: Increasingly, research is emerging on the subjective experience of genderqueer people. This study explored how genderqueer identities are understood and managed in both personal and social domains. Method: Interview data from 25 genderqueer-identified American adolescents and emerging adults, aged 15 to 26 (M = 21.28, SD = 3.20), were pulled from a larger study of 90 transgender and genderqueer participants. The 90-minute semi-structured interviews included questions about gender identity, the developmental pathway of participants, and relationships with others regarding gender. Results: Participants described "genderqueer" as a sufficiently broad category to capture their diverse experiences, and descriptions of genderqueer identities were heterogeneous, directly contradicting binary understandings of gender identity. A thematic analysis of interview transcripts resulted in three themes: intrapsychic experience, descriptions of master narratives about gender identity, and the co-construction of identities. Discussion: Participants described navigating a series of master and alternative narratives, such that all transgender people transgress a cisnormative master narrative, but genderqueer people further transgress normative understandings of a medicalized, binary transgender identity. The experience of co-creating identities was the process by which participants actively navigated constraints of the master narrative experience. Participants described the integral role of language in crafting new narratives to legitimize genderqueer experiences, as well as the subsequent intragroup conflict resulting from conflicting relationships to narratives in the transgender community. This study highlights genderqueer identities as a source of strength and positivity, and the importance of expanding beyond the hegemonic gender binary within research and clinical practice.