In an effort to be unbiased while doing my research on gender identity disorder (GID) I am evaluating all my sources. I found helpful information in a article written by Dr. Paul McHugh published in The Wall Street Journal. (http://www.wsj.com/articles/paul-mchugh-transgender-surgery-isnt-the-solution-1402615120)

Dr. McHugh is the retired Psychiatrist-in-chief of John Hopkins University. His main argument is that Sex reassignment is not possible and therefore not a acceptable treatment for those with gender identity disorder.

This articles takes on the tone of a public service announcement. His intended audience is not his peers, but instead the general public. He does this because he intends to influence those who have GID and those who have family members with the disorder. He stresses his belief that GID is a mental disorder akin to bulimia and anorexia that needs to be treated by psychotherapy instead of being "encouraged" by sex changes.

If this article had taken on a different genre such as a medical analysis it would have been different and possibly more believable. Dr. McHugh would have backed himself with more scientific evidence had he been writing something that his fellows doctors would review.

The main argument my research is covering is whether GID is a mental disorder or a physical disorder. Dr. McHugh strongly supports the latter. Since he believes that GID is a mental disorder he believes psychotherapy is the only means of treatment.

 To the counterargument of GID being a physical that can be treated with sex reassignment surgery Dr. McHugh writes; "the first is that the idea of sex misalignment is simply mistaken—it does not correspond with physical reality. The second is that it can lead to grim psychological outcomes...Sex change is biologically impossible. People who undergo sex-reassignment surgery do not change from men to women or vice versa. Rather, they become feminized men or masculinized women. Claiming that this is civil-rights matter and encouraging surgical intervention is in reality to collaborate with and promote a mental disorder." 


The weakness of this article is a lack of evidence. There is a lot of theory and not much fact.

The author also debates the civil rights aspect of being transgendered. He believes that looking at the situation from a liberty standpoints overshadows the idea that this is actually a mental disorder instead of an expression of sexuality.

Below you will find a video on adolescent GID.

Project one: Ngrams analysis

In an effort to get a better understanding of my research topic of people with gender dysphoria I conducted a Ngrams analysis. The Ngrams viewer is a creation by Google that deals with the use and appearance of words in texts that date from today to the year 1500. You can click this link to watch a video that will tell you all about it (http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Ngrams-Applesauce-and-Billions;search%3Agoogle%20ngram)

The phrases I typed into the search were: transsexual, sex reassignment surgery, gender identity disorder, and cross dressers.

You can view the interactive version of graph my search generated by using this link(https://books.google.com/ngrams/interactive_chart?content=Transexual%2Csex+reassignment+surgery%2Cgender+identity+disorder%2Ccross+dressers&year_start=1000&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CTransexual%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Csex%20reassignment%20surgery%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cgender%20identity%20disorder%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Ccross%20dressers%3B%2Cc0 )

The data I gathered from the graph inspired a lot of questions. I wondered why the word transsexual had never been used in a book in the English language before 1956? What happened in 1956 that caused this word to be used?

I found that the words "sex reassignment surgery" had been first used in 1927. Why did this word appear in literature before all the others in my search? Had sex reassignment surgery been practiced before gender dysphoria had been studied?

This search has made me realize that this topic is fairly new in this society. This could mean that society has advanced in a short period of time and also become more active towards the topic. This data could also mean that maybe in the last 70 years those with gender dysphoria have become more bold and accepting of who they are, so they began to seek treatment.

Project one: rhetorical analysis of "Surgical Treatment of Gender Dysphoria in Adults and Adolescents: Recent Developments, Effectiveness, and Challenges"

 

The article "Surgical Treatment of Gender Dysphoria in Adults and Adolescents: Recent Developments, Effectiveness, and Challenges" by Luk Gijs and Anne Brewaeys debates the current treatments for Gender Dysphoria (a discontent between a persons physical gender and the gender they identify with).

The authors aim to evaluate all the treatments used on those with gender dysphoria. The treatments are tested by following those who underwent the treatment a year after the process. The two main treatments covered in the article are sex reassignment (sex change) and psychotherapy. There are flaws in both treatments.

The problem the authors face is determining the effectiveness of the two treatments. Psychotherapy is a treatment chosen by therapists and doctors who generally believe that gender dysphoria does not exist and that it is a mental disorder. It is usually debated that sex reassignment is impossible and by performing it we are supporting a mental disorder. Those who support sex reassignment generally see gender dysphoria as a physical disorder that can be "cured" by sex reassignment.

The main finding of the article is that sex reassignment is beneficial and appropriate treatment for those who have extreme gender dysphoria and psychotherapy is beneficial for those with mild dysphoria. This decision will lower the number of people dissatisfied with their lives after their chosen treatment.

The authors of the article did not yet gather enough evidence to debate the psychotherapy and sex reassignment treatments of adolescents with gender dysphoria. This topic will have to be debated when more cases occur.

This article caused me to create more questions like:
1) How does sex reassignment effect prepubescent children?
2)Does cross dressing suppress the desire for sex reassignment?
3) Is there a heightened suicide rate in those who have had sex reassignment?

Project one: Research topic

Today there is a lot of controversy and debate in the transgender community. Some of the topics of debate I found the most interesting were whether transsexuality was a mental disorder or a physical disorder and whether a sex change is "biologically possible". I found a blog that gives a very vivid and heartfelt look inside the life of a transgendered person(http://www.thegirlinside.com/). This blog is full of personal stories from transgendered people and those who have already underwent a sex change operation.This interests me because I would love to work with the transgendered community as a psychiatrist and aid in their transition.

Some questions I would like to ask on this topic are:
1) Is transsexuality a mental disorder or a physical disorder?
2) How do the post-op patients feel emotionally after the sex change operation.
3) How does the prison systems way of sorting transgendered prisoners into male or female prisons effect the transgendered persons mental state.
4) Is a sex change Biologically possible?
5) Should a sex change be considered a cure or is it just prompting a mental disorder?

Project One : MLK letter analysis

The famous "Letter From Birmingham Jail" (http://www.uscrossier.org/pullias/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/king.pdf) was written by Martin Luther King Jr. while he served time in jail for organizing a march in Birmingham. The letter was written in response to news paper articles written by his white counterparts who believed that MLK's actions were not well planned. The letter includes a lot of issues that are still valid in society today.

The two elements of the letter that I think would be altered in modern times is the target audience of the letter and the type of issues it tried to remedy. The Black community today is faced with problems concerning racism just like the generations before them, but they are different in how intense the racism is and how it is acted upon. Today racism is hidden. To the untrained eye racism seems to have dissipated from this society, but racism and hate crimes occur everyday.

The other element of King's letter that may have been different had it been written today is who it was written to. There is a disconnect amongst the Black community today. King's letter stressed how the Black community was working as a unit to end segregation in the U.S. but in modern times we are severely divided. We divide ourselves by class, skin tone, educational background, and pedigree.

     
 

My dream career is in Psychiatry. I am not sure as to what population I want to work with yet. I have found some great blogs in the field:
1) http://mancpsychsoc.blogspot.com/

The Manchester Psychiatry Society Blog takes a playful approach to the science/medicine of psychiatry. The articles are fun and colorful but also give you great information.  

2) http://real-psychiatry.blogspot.com/

This blog is written by George Dawson, MD, DFAPA. He posts things about his personal life, medicine and science, and also psychiatry.

3) http://carlatpsychiatry.blogspot.com/

This blog is very helpful for people in medical school or planning to apply to medical school. Its posts are usually centered around the mechanics of being a medical student.

This is a speech by Chimamanda Ngozi Adicie. The topic is the danger of knowing only single stories. A single story is a story that only gives you one point of view and causes you to form one biased opinion. This can be applied to recent popular cases such as Ferguson. A single story point of view of the case could be that Michael Brown or the police officer were completely innocent or completely guilty. This view disregards all the factors that play into what happened.

A single story a person could gather from viewing my life at its surface is that I am very quite. A lot of people have this misconception about me. In reality I talk a lot and am very opinionated. enjoy the video 

Hi, my name is Maya. One reason that I am making this blog is because it is a school assignment ;my second reason is to share my interests with whoever wants to learn them. I named this blog after my favorite movie in the world "Girl Interrupted". It seemed fitting because it also deals with what I want my career to be.