New study confirms: Gender Diverse show much higher rates of autism

submitted by BEB from spectrumnews.org

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[–]TurtleFuzz 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Nearly 70 percent of autistic gender-diverse adolescents say they need medical gender-related care, according to a small 2018 study, and 32 percent say their gender identity has been questioned because of their autism diagnosis.

“It’s really, really distressing to read sometimes, where you have people who have very strong gender dysphoria and want to transition, and their therapist says, ‘Well, we need to first cure your autism before we transition,’ which is wrong on all levels,” Warrier says. “We want this study to really demonstrate that both of these things can co-occur, and just because these things co-occur does not mean that one should be denied.”

What therapist actually thinks that autism is something you can cure? Do they also think you can catch it, too? This really makes me concerned, does the study investigator (as he is mentioned) know what autism is?

I get he wants to protect autistic children and teens, but allowing them to disregard safety and future health for immediate satisfaction is not the way to help these kids.

[–]BewitchedSam 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I'm guessing this comes from the researchers misinterpretation. I have ASD and no one has ever told me they could cure it. I've always been told I can be taught how to manage symptoms and build social skills. It would make sense for a clinician to try to address other mental health concerns before approving transition. I'd argue its good practice even, but I can't imagine any clinical psychologist suggesting they could cure autism or to be frank any mental health issue. They typically look for ways to treat and manage symptoms. Using the term 'cure' could set up an unrealistic expectation for treatment even with things like anxiety, depression or PTSD.

[–]slushpilot 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Using the term 'cure' could set up an unrealistic expectation

Just like using the term 'transition' and recommending that in the absence of a cure...

[–]BewitchedSam 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I agree vehemently. Telling someone that transitioning will cure their gender dysphoria which will then cure their depression and anxiety and give them self confidence sets up extremely unrealistic and unhealthy expectations. There are also unrealistic expectations with how transition will turn out. They have expectations they'll become handsome men or beautiful women and they very very rarely do. I feel bad for these people.

[–]TurtleFuzz 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I agree, any other mental health issues should be addressed, and made sure that the patient has them under control before talking about transitioning. Thanks so much for your reply and sharing your experiences!

[–]anonymale 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

What therapist actually thinks that autism is something you can cure?

A bogus one. This struck me as an extremely odd statement from the lead researcher on a paper about autism.

[–]slushpilot 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

and their therapist says, ‘Well, we need to first cure your autism before we transition

The author might be trying to be facetious or hyperbolic in this quote. I think they know that autism can't be "cured"—only managed and understood. But implying that therapists shouldn't first do some gatekeeping before transition is incredibly wrong.

I think it could be argued that the gender confusion is an expression of the autism, or even that these mental inabilities to individuate oneself and others are actually two faces of the same thing. I just don't get how a therapist could treat one and dismiss the other... to then say, well, at least there's transition for the other thing—wow.