Working with Trans Clients: Trans Resilience and Gender Euphoria
An interview with Beck Gee-Cohen, MA CADC-II, about how therapists can be better clinicians for trans people. Curt and Katie talk to Beck about gender identity (and why every therapist should do their own work around gender), historical perspectives on masculinity and femininity, the concepts of trans resilience and gender euphoria, the real problems with the DSM diagnosis of gender dysphoria and considerations for providing therapy to trans clients.
Interview with Beck Gee-Cohen MA CADC-II Director of LGBTQ+ Programming
In this podcast episode we talk about trans mental health
We invited Beck Gee-Cohen, MA CADC-II to come talk with us about providing therapy for trans individuals.
Modern therapists need to keep learning when working with trans clients
Getting pronouns correct is a basic expectation at this point
Finding the balance between focusing on a client’s trans identity and other elements of their identity and experience
Understanding trans identity 101 is a basic level of knowledge that all therapists should have
What you do need to learn from your trans clients
Therapists need to do their own work around gender
The work that therapists must do around gender
The role that society plays in defining gender and the binary
The privilege cis folks have in not being asked to assess/address their gender
“Women’s” and “men’s” issues
Societal expectations related to gender
The history of gender expression and how what is acceptable has shifted
Cultural and generational differences related to gender
The Concept of Trans Resilience
The tendency to focus on the pain of being trans
The bias and hate that trans folks face, and how they continue to show up
The importance of celebrating who you are as a trans person
“You’re so brave” doesn’t see the full picture
How hard it is to show up – and what it means that trans folks continue to do so
Moving away from just focusing on gender dysphoria versus looking at gender euphoria
Gender Dysphoria versus Gender Euphoria and the problems with the DSM
How the DSM is used for the medical needs of trans folks
The problem with assigning the diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria to an individual
Internalized gender dysphoria (it is not my dysphoria, it is the dysphoria of the people around me about my gender)
Playing around with gender shouldn’t be a diagnosis, it is so culturally bound
Trans individuals have to know what to report so they can get hormones (i.e., they may have to lie about being dysphoric in order to “check the boxes”)
The problem with gatekeeping and the hope that trans folks being in work groups to help shift these guidelines
Better Therapy for Trans Clients
Therapeutic alliance is the most important
How therapists can appropriately use vulnerability when a client comes out as trans
The likelihood of someone coming out initially versus after trust is built and how to handle it
Sharing the therapeutic process and how you will learn and educate yourself
The problem of signaling that you are capable of working with LGBTQ+ people when you are not trained
Awareness of how being trans impacts the client in front of you
When the client is coming into therapy due to their gender identity
Understanding the back story and how someone identified that “something is different”
Looking at what they want to do next (which may be very little or a full plan on how they handle being trans).
