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Suicide and nonsuicidal self‐injury among sexual and gender minority adolescents: A stress perspective
Author(s) -
Poon Jennifer A.,
Kerr Patrick L.,
Kim Kerri L.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the brown university child and adolescent behavior letter
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7575
pISSN - 1058-1073
DOI - 10.1002/cbl.30434
Subject(s) - psychology , gender dysphoria , perspective (graphical) , transgender , identity (music) , gender identity , dysphoria , sexual assault , psychiatry , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , suicide prevention , social psychology , poison control , psychoanalysis , medicine , medical emergency , anxiety , physics , artificial intelligence , computer science , acoustics
“I don't want to hurt myself — I want to kill myself.” Alex [not his real name] was an 18‐year‐old trans male I met during his first psychiatric inpatient admission. Alex was raised in a “holler” in West Virginia. While his peers were navigating the stresses of emerging adulthood, Alex carried the additional burden of experiencing gender dysphoria, a deep sense of incongruence between the biological sex he was assigned at birth (female) and his gender identity (male). Though well‐intentioned, his parents made it clear that his desire to be male was sinful and would not be tolerated in their family. He felt hopeless — “repulsive” even. Alex decided he could suppress his female identity interminably, risk coming out and being rejected by his family and community, or end his life .