GenderGP is an organisation that encourages and provides abnormal hormonal treatment (‘affirmative care’) to so-called trans people. It’s hard to take it seriously, however, when we find this kind of writing on their website: …patients whose gender identity differs from the one they were assigned at birth. Neither gender identity, whatever that is, nor anything else, is ‘assigned’ [...]
I discuss Dr Hilary Cass’ Preliminary Report in an earlier blog. The Final Report of her Independent review of gender identity services for children and young people was released in April 2024. It runs to almost 300 pages including a glossary, references, and twelve appendices. Dr Cass comes over as a very kind and friendly person – good [...]
Encapsulation of what goes wrong A regular columnist in a certain medical journal who had run out of ideas, again seems to have been afflicted by the dreaded writer’s block. So, once more he’s turned to his favourite subject: himself. The first thing that strikes one about his latest column is the repeated use of the words ‘I’, [...]
The British Medical Journal needs a new copywriter as well as a new editorial policy. In the edition of 20 November 2023 there’s a headline, ‘CBT can help with range of menopausal symptoms says NICE’. (CBT means cognitive behavioural therapy and NICE is the awkward acronym of the smugly named National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.) Unnecessary [...]
You have probably never heard of Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD), but if you have ever been prescribed a drug for depression, or are thinking of consulting a psychiatrist because of this symptom, you need to be aware of it. It is a tragic situation and all the more so since it is completely unnecessary. This is because so-called [...]
Puberty can be a stressful, even turbulent, time with its physical and emotional changes. And these days, especially because of the influence of social media, it may happen that young people project their difficulties onto the idea that they are, or may be, ‘trans’. Such a belief, sense, or feeling – better to call it a delusion – [...]
I could not believe my eyes when I saw a headline in The British Muddical Journal (13 October 2023) proclaiming some great news: 'GPs can refer patients with low back pain to apps, says NICE.' So now at last we have the answer to this ubiquitous problem: apps! The object of this wonderful move is to help these [...]
In March 2023 the UK doctors’ regulatory body, the General Medical Council (GMC), put out on its website information about adult ‘Trans healthcare’ with a sub-heading, ‘Every patient has the right to high-quality and inclusive healthcare.’ Patients do not, I think, want low-quality, non-inclusive healthcare, so this hardly needs saying. Patronising Under another sub-heading, ‘How to make your [...]
I was reminded of this aphorism, which has been attributed to Freud, by an article on ‘Personality Disorder’ in The British Medical Journal of 16 September 2023. If such an entity exists, this means there must be a standard for personality that is not disordered – a normal personality, as one might say. And what, pray, is that? [...]
If the purpose of the UK government website, ‘Apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate’ is to put people off by its complexity, it will have succeeded. It starts with an ‘Overview’ where one is informed: Apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate if you want your affirmed gender (sometimes called an ‘acquired gender’) to be legally recognised in [...]