DSM ON THE = BOOKSHELF: An open letter to WPATH Members From Tracie O'Keefe

DSM ON THE BOOKSHELF: =

An open letter to WPATH Members = From Tracie=20 O'Keefe

On = May 30, 2008,=20 WPATH member Tracie O'Keefe sent an eloquent letter to the membership = concerning=20 the ongoing debate about the upcoming revision of the DSM. Her = letter=20 resonated with readers concerned about the DSM's pathologization of = gender=20 variance as "mental illness". Some urged her to make the letter public, = for the=20 benefit of the larger trans-community. Tracie has now done that, and has = graciously given permission for its publication in this site. - L.C., = June 3,=20 2008. [PDF]

---------------------------- Original Message=20 ----------------------------
Subject: Re: [WPATH-MEMBERSHIP] DSM = Debate open=20 response
From:    Tracie = O'Keefe
Date:   =20 Fri, May 30, 2008 10:09 am
To:     =20 WPATH-MEMBERSHIP
-----------------------------------------------------= ---------------------

DSM ON THE = BOOKSHELF

There = are always=20 such wars driven by the interpretation of words. People are so invested = in their=20 descriptions of themselves, the descriptions bestowed upon them by = others. The=20 less conducive the description the more =91other=92 the other becomes. = Many are so=20 offended by what this association and its members have referred to them = as over=20 the years.

I = disagree that the=20 sole purpose of HBIGDA was to help TSs and TGs, because I have always = viewed it=20 as a trade association as much as a vehicle of philanthropy. I had a = hotel in my=20 portfolio once so I was a member of the small hoteliers association, = which, as=20 an aside, were far less argumentative. As for the acronym WPATH I have = always=20 seen it as being more about PATH (pathology), if you will excuse the = Freudian=20 slip. I have sat across the table from friends who are psychiatrists and = smiled=20 wryly about many of their interpretations of the human condition just as = they=20 have about my own pontifications. My own DSM IV has spent most of its = life=20 propping up one end of a bookshelf where the pegs have fallen out from = the shelf=20 above. But I do understand the legal people suffer from the OCD of doing = categorisation by numbers just like insurance companies and = government-funded=20 agencies. And of course some clinicians also prefer to practise by = numbers=20 too.

Let us = remember what=20 Einstein said, =93It is the discipline that determines what can be = observed=94,=20 which dear old R. D. Laing would remind us with a whiskey in one hand = and the=20 means of attaining an altered state of awareness in the=20 other.

On my = 12th birthday=20 in 1967 I was surrounded by a clutch of psychiatrists who fed me LSD to = rid me=20 of my desire to be female. It did not work but I think Timothy Leary may = have=20 thought it the right move for a whole host of other reasons.

I = remember April=20 Ashley telling me they had given her ECT, which did not work either; = maybe it=20 was not the right kind of electricity or perhaps supplied by an=20 inauspicious company. I also remember Peggy Cohen-Kettenis saying = that she=20 had given psychological tests to young teenagers to determine which ones = were=20 suitable for GID treatment and some of the ones they had rejected turned = up=20 years later for treatment very angry. So exactly which one of us is = qualified to=20 play God=85not I?

We as = an association=20 are not qualified to determine the etiology of the whole world=92s = population of=20 sex and gender diverse people and we have no business pretending that we = do,=20 because it would be fraud. The mere appearance of information about = different=20 sex and gender diverse identities in the DSM suggests that something is = a mental=20 illness or psychological disturbance and WPATH, preferably without the = PATH,=20 should be fervently against any such suggestion without incontrovertible = evidence, of which there is absolutely none.

We = should as an=20 association be responsibly spending our time taking transexed,=20 transsexual, transgender, androgynous, neuter, and fluid gender queer = identities=20 out of the DSM. Shame=85shame=85shame if this does not happen in the = next=20 DSM!

I find = this=20 discourse an axiomatic power struggle but very little to do with = cultural=20 interpretations of sex and gender identity. If HBIGDA or WPATH must = contribute=20 to the future of the furniture in my office, please make it=20 brief.

Sex = Dysphoria =96=20 unhappiness with physical sex characteristics.

Gender = Dysphoria =96=20 unhappy with gender performance.

Sexuality Dysphoria=20 =96 unhappiness with one=92s sexuality

One = should always=20 bear in mind it is the duty of the present generation not to embrace or = saddle=20 our descendants with our own bizarre ideas and theories, no matter how = earnest.=20 How daft does the word transsexual sound now linguistically and what = would=20 Chomsky have to say about that? And how utterly rude of the board to = call us all=20 transgender when many of us are no such thing. CBT for children who are = sex and=20 gender diverse? Whatever next? Anklets and electrodes planted into our = brains?=20

Tracie = O=92Keefe

PS. = DSM=20 Committee =96 think diplomacy because if you believe you have = suffered an=20 onslaught up to this point, just imagine the bite you will receive if = you step=20 on the tiger=92s tail=85and absolutely no amount of academic = accolades will=20 save you=85 think Napoleon=92s end. Perhaps your motto could be keep it = simple=85very=20 simple. Good luck with that =96 you have an unenviable task and may you = execute it=20 with grace.

Dr Tracie=20 O'Keefe DCH (Doctor of Clinical Hypnotherapy)

Clinical=20 Hypnotherapist, Psychotherapist, Counsellor, Sex=20 Therapist

Director,=20 Australian Health & Education Centre, Sydney

Ph +61=20 (0) 2 9562 6802

Fax +61=20 (0) 2 9562 6801

Email: Tracie = O'Keefe

Web http://www.tracieokeefe.com/=20

<= /CENTER>

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