Transgender Mental Health
Understanding the Mental Health Experiences of Transgender Australians
There is growing body of international and Australian research that outlines the mental health experiences of transgender people.
The increasing number of studies undertaken within the transgender community, particularly in the
Transgender Mental Health
Understanding the Mental Health Experiences of Transgender Australians
There is growing body of international and Australian research that outlines the mental health experiences of transgender people.
The increasing number of studies undertaken within the transgender community, particularly in the past five years, has enabled us to better understand their needs and to identify the key areas that will determine whether there are negative or positive mental health outcomes for our transgender community.
Our Australian studies provide a consistent picture of transgender adults mental health and indicate the following:
Levels of poor mental health appear to be higher among transgender people than among Australians overall.
Experiences of discimination and exclusion are related to poor mental health.
Age appears to play an important role in determining mental health outcomes.
Social support and connectedness to the community plays an important role.
Availability of psychological support within the familly and the community is of vital importance.
Access to medical support in the form of hormone treatment and gender affirming surgeries improve mental health for those wishing these interventions.
Current Australian legislation pertaining to Gender Identity creates onerous emotional and financial demands for those transgender people negotiating our legal system and negatively impacts upon their mental health.
While the above provides an indication of the needs of our adult community, we have a limited research based picture of the mental health needs of our transgender children and adolescents.
What we do know from the studies that have been undertaken is that transgender children appear not to be confused, delayed, pretending or oppositional when it comes to their gender identity – instead they show responses typical and expected for children with their gender identity.
There are a number of key behaviours that indic