Build Your Skills in Caring for Transgender Individuals

For transgender individuals in this country, there is limited access to gender-affirming and competent psychiatric care. Even the term “transgender,” which is only part of the larger spectrum of gender diversity, is not understood and evokes a range of thoughts and emotions in the general public. While many psychiatrists are encountering more and more transgender people in their practices, sometimes they are at a loss on how to proceed with diagnosis and treatment and coordinate that care with hormone treatments and gender-affirming surgical procedures.

The symposium “Advances in Transgender Mental Health” will help general psychiatrists understand the foundation of gender-affirming mental health treatment. Presenters, which include psychiatrists from throughout the United States and parts of Canada, will cover topics around understanding gender, gender dysphoria, transitioning, and hormone and surgical procedures. They will also cover the basics of making a clinical practice transgender-affirming.

“Ideas about what is masculine and feminine are being called into question,” said session chair Eric Yarbrough, M.D., “and even those who do not necessarily identify as gender diverse are still bending gender with the way they dress, how they talk, and the activities they participate in. Society is being forced to look at the historical institution of gender now more than ever. By offering specialized care, clinicians can provide competent and sensitive care to this population and create space for them to express themselves in a safe and supportive environment.” ■