Product Description

People with gender identity problems are increasingly often encountered by health professionals. The problems are often imagined to consist only of transsexuality, but actually comprise of both this and many other diagnoses. Properly establishing a diagnosis and excluding alternatives including psychosis, partial androgen insensitivity syndromes and personality disorder is complex. The subsequent management of these disorders and their differential diagnoses is even more so. "Transsexual and other Disorders of Gender Identity" provides a comprehensive and extremely practical account of the management of disorders of gender identity and their differential diagnoses. Particular consideration is given to, among others, coincidental mental illness, disability, family and relationship issues, forensic and military settings. Psychological and endocrine aspects are covered in depth, surgical aspects to a level adequate for all but a specialist surgeon, and legal aspects to the level generally needed by health professionals. This book provides vital detail for general practitioners, surgeons, endocrinologists, speech therapists, social workers and, especially, psychiatrists. "I conceived and edited this book because when asked for recommended reading on the practicalities of treatment for disorders of gender identity I had nothing to suggest to others. I was always able to provide lists of books which dealt with the classification of gender identity disorders, and texts rich with competing aetiological theories. There were also fascinating sociopolitical (including post-modern) expositions. The problem always came with recommending practical texts for everyday clinical use." - James Barrett, in the Preface.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #616183 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 298 pages

Review
'AN OUTSTANDING BOOK, fulfilling a marked need...I strongly recommend it to all health care professionals involved in the care and management of patients with issues of gender identity. Educators in medicine and the health sciences should consider recommending this book for their undergraduate students. It can truly be said that this book is a clinical gem.' MEDICAL JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIA 'The variability of presentation of persons on the gender/sex spectrum, with co-varying complications and diagnostic puzzles, is extensively and clearly presented in many vignettes... Very helpful to the uninitiated practitioner who rarely is confronted with a gender dysphoric patient.' RICHARD GREEN, ARCH SEX BEHAV

About the Author
Consultant Psychiatrist and Lead Clinician, Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic

Customer Reviews

Beware
James Barret is the Consultant Psychiatrist of the Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic in the UK. As Charing Cross is regarded as the primary centre in the UK for the treatment of transsexuals one would expect a definitive text.

Unfortunately this book is in no way definitive. Mr Barret demonstrates the psychiatrists ability to observe and categorise with little understanding of internal, external and social influences.

The addition of chapters on all areas of transsexual treatment helps lift it above a general psychiatric text, however there is little in the book that meets the titles promise of "a practical guide to management".

For the professional looking for information on helping transsexuals there are better texts available. For the inquisitive suffering from gender dysphoria this book is best avoided

Filling a knowledge gap
Summary: An eminently practical clinical summary of the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of gender identity. Essential reading, particularly for general practitioners

Reviewer: A fellow clinician at the Charing Cross GIC, London

As a professional colleague of James Barrett's, I am well aware of the general paucity of decent clinical texts on the various gender identity disorders and their management - and the heady mixture of anecdote, speculation, assumption, stereotyping and myth that frequently fills that knowledge vacuum. In a 2006 review of 870 trans people, 60% claimed their general practitioner showed willingness to help them but lacked sufficient knowledge to do so, suggesting there is a very real need for good quality, readable material on the subject.

As Barrett himself acknowledges, this book is based on his experience as a consultant at the Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic, in London; it is, to some extent inevitably, an individual perspective within a particular place during a particular time. The vast majority of clinical situations (illustrated by plentiful case studies) are, however, broadly familiar from my own day-to-day practice. The emphasis throughout is on practical management; Barrett's untangling of often complex diagnostic/treatment dilemmas seems to me to be nuanced, sensible and reasonable within the context of NHS service provision. Likewise, the chapters on endocrinology, gender surgery and speech & language therapy offer useful insights into Charing Cross's team approach.

As far as I am aware, this is the only textbook of its type and, as such, not merely important but essential to a fuller clinical understanding of gender identity disorders.