EPISODE 66 - Pioneers Series - Where it All Started: The Dutch Researchers

Quick Notes: Bio: Steensma Thomas D. Steensma, Ph.D., is a health psychologist, principal investigator and part of the outpatient management team at the Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria at Amsterdam UMC, The Netherlands. Trained as a child and adolescent psychologist, his clinical work is focused on the counseling and treatment of people of all ages with gender incongruence and Differences in Sex Development (DSD). As principal investigator, his research lines are focused on psychosexual development, gender identity development and treatment evaluation of youth with gender incongruence. Over the years, he has published over 50 peer reviewed articles in international journals and several book chapters in close collaboration with prominent scientists in the field of gender and sexology. He has co-supervised several Ph.D. and master students. His recent scientific work is focused on understanding the developments in our field focusing on the change in observed sex ratios and the influence of media attention on gender referrals and understanding the processes and factors involved in non-binary gender identity formation. He is currently part of the working group for the text revision of the DSM-5 chapter on Gender Dysphoria. In the development of the 8th version of the Standards of Care of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), he is part of two working groups: Assessment and Therapeutic Approaches of Non-Binary People and Assessment, Support and Therapeutic Approaches of Children. Bio: de Vries Annelou de Vries is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and full staff member in the dept of child and adolescent psychiatry working at the Amsterdam UMC. de Vries is leading the Child Psychiatry Department of the Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria of the Amsterdam UMC. She is president elect of the European Professional Association of Transgender Health (EPATH) . She is co-chair of the adolescent chapter of the Standards of Care revision of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH). At present, her lines of research focus on 1) the co-occurrence of autism and gender dysphoria, 2) capacity for informed consent of transgender adolescents, 3) long term follow up of transgender adolescence into middle adulthood, 4) sexual development of transgender adolescents, 5) shared decision making in transgender care, and 6) pathways in gender identity exploration and affirmation. The reason this interview is so important is bc the concept of puberty blockers originated with these two researchers (along w/ cohen kettenis.) We talk about patient zero and the 22 year follow up w/ this person. We get into the nitty gritty details about the 2 studies on which all puberty blocker treatment is based: we ask why they selected certain methods, talked about eligibility criteria, and the 15 participants who didn’t make it into the final study. We even touch on Jazz Jennings, social media, ROGD and detransition. This conversation felt, to us at least, like we barely scratched the surface: we were frankly left with more questions than answers, which we are so eager to talk about in our post series analysis. You’ll probably notice the vast differences between the perspectives of these researchers and of myself and Stella, but nonetheless it was a productive and fascinating conversation. Extended Notes ● When did Thomas and Annelou first hear about the concept of puberty blockers? ● Thomas and Annelou talk about the very first case of puberty suppression. ● Were there any counseling measures attempted to relieve the distress of this first case? ● Stella asks about the follow-up from the study by Peggy Cohen Kettenis in 2011 where a transitioner could not sustain a long-term relationship and was still ashamed of their genitals. ● Thomas talks about the motivation behind follow-ups and the aim of each study. ● Stella asks about the gender dysphoria scale used in their studies in 2011. Why were the scales changed after treatment? ● Thomas talks about the Utrecht Gender Dysphoria Spectrum Scale by JK McGuire and how they are using this now. ● Annelou explains their 2014 clinical study and the different follow-ups they made on these cases. ● Stella mentions that the majority of the seventy children in their study developed a level of obesity while on treatment. Annelou and Thomas describe their selection process. ● There were fifteen people that were not followed up upon in the second study. Annelou talks about one of the patients who died through the cross-sex surgery. Links: Young adult psychological outcome after puberty suppression and gender reassignment https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25201... Puberty suppression in adolescents with gender identity disorder: a prospective follow-up study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20646... -- Sponsored by ReIME and Genspect. Visit Rethinkime.org and Genspect.org. For more about our show: Linktr.ee/WiderLensPod