Parent and Teacher Guideline for
Gender Dysphoric Youth
Helpful Suggestion to Parents and Teachers
that can Help Kids Through
Listen to Section
World-renowned researcher therapists Kenneth Zucker and Susan Bradley state that when gender dysphoria occurs, anxiety presents as “Low self-esteem [which] may result from interfamilial conflict, behavioural, academic problems, and peer difficulties.”[40] The treatment for any trauma is to acknowledge that these children have difficulty regulating anxiety. Childhood involves building resilience to anxiety. Lisa Littman’s study on Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (RODG) showed the high rate of anxiety in girls who were identifying in the current gender diversity social contagion.[41] Since the Canadian clinic (CAMH), run by Zucker and Bradley, was closed down, gender clinics in Canada have popped up in every province. These clinics do not treat anxiety; they affirm the lie with medicalization, increasing the anxiety for the child and the family. Psychotherapeutic treatments have been criminalized in Canada under Bill C-4, the conversion therapy ban, so the only safe treatments, like Zucker and Bradley’s family therapy, were shut down. There is a wide gap between the number of children who need help and the available safe treatment in Canada right now.
This guideline was written to fill that gap. Children will naturally develop healthy ways of coping when supported. Family and group counselling are recommended. “Detransition is often delayed due to fears of being rejected by the LGBTQ community; they risk losing friends and having to acknowledge the shame associated with having been sensitive or demanding about transition, which never delivered what they expected. Most experienced detransphobia.”[42] Based on this evidence, forming group therapy programs would be a protective factor for these kids.
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A new report done through a detransition support group shows some of the reasons why individuals detransition.
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Table 1. ‘Detransition Facts’ - taken from a qualitative report (table 2 from the group therapy report below) of the material discussed during detransitioner support group sessions.[43]
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(The previous and following tables (tables 1, 2a, 2b and Figure 1 are from Bridging the Gap, 2024).
This report done through a detransition support group shows some of the reasons why individuals detransition. The reasons are different for all kids, but as they mature you can see the logic they form for themselves from the table above. The reason for a girl transitioning is different than for a boy, and the reasons for a girl detransitioning is also different than a boy's. Knowing why kids detransition in their own words is important – individuals often don't listen to our rhetoric on studies, so this is another way to reach them, using this new group therapy data. Similar to 12-step meetings that target kids with addictions, you and I can help kids by employing licensed psychotherapists, who can facilitate similar therapy groups for youth with gender dysphoria.
Table 2a. Major themes and patterns emerging from group discourse
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Table 2b. Major themes and patterns emerging from group discourse
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Self-determination theory is a force that combats codependence as it reaches for the goal of autonomy. As children grow up and learn, as adults learn, to take responsibility for their actions, rather than blaming external forces, they stop relying on tribal identities to feel OK. In identity formation, here is a list of factors that contribute to child gender dysphoria from co-author Michelle Cretella’s the Science of Transgender Belief:[44]
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Factors contributing to child gender dysphoria:
1. Reactive Attachment Disorder
2. Adverse Childhood Events
3. Autism
4. Porn Addiction (sissy porn)
5. Major depression
6. General anxiety including internalized homophobia
Figure 1. Self Determination Theory (SDT)
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Taking highlights from books on child development like Growing Up Again, parents can learn what messages they need to send to their kids. Many important child development facts are not taught in university anymore. University students are asked not to quote research more than 10-years-old. As a result, solid but older literature on child development has been downplayed and replaced with a lax watery version of a Client-Centered “let kids lead” approach. The protocol, to affirm a female child in her femaleness, and to affirm a male in his maleness, is considered harmful and regressive to many educators. That idea is nonsense, and goes against many decades of previous research. In the following pages you will read child development theory and learn to understand how children develop a working model for behaviour.
In an ideal world dad would discuss emerging sexual realities with his son and mom would do the same for her daughter. It is best for men to counsel boys because men can understand the heightening effects of testosterone better than a woman, while women can explain menstruation and remember the delicate and sticky situations girls can find themselves in, better than a man. Generally, though, mom and dad can support kids in the following ways. Some behaviours are helpful, while others could shame the child, preventing a healthy self-esteem. Self-esteem is a family affair! This table is from the book Growing Up Again.[45]
Table 3. Behaviours Helpful/Unhelpful (see full tables for Growing Up Again -
Stages of Development
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