Transsexuality: Transitions, detransitions, and regrets in Spain

Abstract

Introduction: Health care demand by transsexual people has recently increased, mostly at the expense of young and adolescents. The number of people who report a loss of or change in the former identity feeling (identity desistance) has also increased. While these are still a minority, we face more and more cases of transsexual people who ask for detransition and reversal of the changes achieved due to regret.

Objective: To report our experience with a group of transsexual people in detransition phase, and to analyze their personal experience and their associated conflicts.

Material and methods: A cohort of 796 people with gender incongruence attending the Identity Gender Unit of Doctor Peset University Hospital from January 2008 to December 2018 was studied. Four of the eight documented cases of detransition and/or regret are reported as the most representative.

Results: Causes of detransition included identity desistance, non-binary gender variants, associated psicomorbidities, and confusion between sexual identity and sexual orientation.

Conclusion: Detransition is a growing phenomenon that implies clinical, psychological, and social issues. Inadequate evaluation and use of medicalization as the only means to improve gender dysphoria may lead to later detransition in some teenagers. Comprehensive care by a multidisciplinary and experienced team is essential. As there are no studies reporting the factors predictive of detransition, caution is recommended in cases of atypical identity courses.

Keywords: Arrepentimiento; Desistencia; Detransición; Detransition; Gender desistance; Gender incongruence; Gender variance; Incongruencia de género; Regret; Variantes de género.