SUMMARY :
Transsexualism is a sexual identity disorder. This pathology is rare as we think there are less than 1000 cases in France (1 transsexual per 100,000 individuals). Transsexualism is characterised by the deep conviction held by an individual that he
or she actually belongs to the opposite sex
to that of his/her physical gender.
We work in a pluridisciplinary team
with an endocrinologist, a surgical team,
a lawyer, a magistrate and myself as both psychiatrist and sexologist; sometimes social workers are involved, doctors from the employment medical service, dermatologists, phoneticians or beauticians,
depending on the case.
This pathology is rare as we think
there are less than 1000 cases in France (1 transsexual per 100,000 individuals according to publications).
Transsexualism is characterised by the
deep conviction held by an individual that
he or she actually belongs to the opposite sex to that of his/her physical gender.
To be sure we are talking the same language may I remind you that we call a male transsexual the patient born with
an XY chromosome formula and a female transsexual is a patient born with
an XX chromosome formula.
Transsexuals are surprised that we question their claim but we always have to ask ourselves whether we are not just giving
into sheer madness and whether we have
the right to go so far as to physically
change the sex of an individual.
The diagnosis of transsexualism is serious and involves lengthy, very careful team work. We must never forget that the treatment we offer at the present time is mutilating even
if it brings major psychological comfort.
We seem to be offering the least harmful
of all the solutions, but it remains just
as difficult to apply from the human point
of view as it does from the financial one.