2016/07/12 by Kevin M. Donnelly-Boylen · 1 citation
Psychology · Medicine · #LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy #Genital Health and Disease #Transgender #Psychiatry #Gender dysphoria #Mental illness #Clinical psychology #Medicine #Sex organ #Population #Psychology #Mood #Dysphoria #Borderline personality disorder #Mental health #Anxiety
paper · doi:10.1080/19359705.2016.1209395
openalex publication_date 2016/07/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/03/10
Transgender individuals have consistently been shown to have higher rates of many psychiatric conditions, likely due to societal discrimination and trauma. While psychotic disorders are not of known higher prevalence among transgender patients, other etiologies of serious mental illness (SMI), including posttraumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, and mood disorders, are more common. Genital self-mutilation is sensationalized, but uncommon, in transgender people. It is poorly understood how SMI affects propensity for genital self-mutilation in this population. The following is a case of a 43-year-old transgender woman with SMI, presenting with genital self-mutilation in the setting of an acute mood episode with psychosis. She identified a lack of access to care, including an inability to receive medical assistance in obtaining sex reassignment treatment, as a major stressor contributing to her self-injury. Previous cases and analyses of genital self-mutilation among transgender patients have generally focused on patients with gender dysphoria without concomitant SMI. Further investigation into the effects of restrictions on sex-reassignment treatment of transgender patients with SMI is necessary to better understand the effects of these restrictions on their symptoms.