How to talk to a teen
Knowing what some of you know now; how would you approach a teen (16 mtf) struggling with severe gender dysphoria and wanting to start medical transition?
I have been reading a lot of posts in the other detrans sub that really resonate with some of their experience - they are that classic neurodivergent/ on the spectrum, gifted individual with anxiety and possible depression, that seem particularly vulnerable to this path.
I believe that they at least need to reach mental maturity and some level of financial self sufficiency before proceeding with this. But we are just being accused of not being supportive parents, denying them health care, they are throwing all the talking points at us how only 0.1% regret transition and it's life saving treatment and so on. Of course if it's literally what we need to do to save their life it's the lesser of two evils; but I just don't feel right about this, I truly feel they are destroying their life and I don't want to help them in doing that. This is a child that was blessed with so many advantages in life - they are brilliant, ridiculously good looking, and were given a very strong start socioeconomically and academically. They could have had everything in life and instead this is the only thing 98% of people around them will see and define them as. I just can't help but feel they are making a severe mistake by not at least attempting to deal with these feelings through therapy or other mechanisms (they are convinced those don't exist and that people with true dysphoria never get past it, which i know isn't true). To be clear i am not talking about "conversion therapy". simply about therapy that may try and get to the bottom of these complicated feelings about identity and how they may be influenced by neurodivergence, social fitting in and so on.
Please don't flame, I just have nowhere else to take these feelings to. On the trans kid parent sites they will chase me off with pitchforks. Maybe someone here can share a perspective, independent studies, anything. Fwiw the teen also believes this sub and similar communities are infiltrated by right wing bot to promote transphobia or something to that extent. I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall as they are in their echo chamber and won't listen to anything else. Please help I'm just a distraught parent.