Prominent doctors slam psychiatrist Dr Andrew Amos for ‘harmful’ trans views
A James Cook University psychiatrist has likened transgenderism to mental illness, drawing ire from prominent doctors and the LGBTIQ community.
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A James Cook University psychiatrist has likened transgenderism to mental illness, drawing ire from prominent doctors and the LGBTIQ community.
JCU’s Dr Andrew Amos, who is also the chair of the Queensland Section of Rural Psychiatry, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, claims that gender diverse identities do not involve a mental illness are “ridiculous”, “unscientific” and the result of “political pressure” from a “small minority”.
“What I believe and what many psychiatrists believe is that gender diverse identities are a form of mental illness,” he said.
Diverse gender identity is only officially considered an illness if it causes a person distress but Dr Amos said he believed that transgenderism existed on a spectrum of mental illness.
“Affirming an unreal set of beliefs about yourself is inherently and literally a false belief,” he said.
Dr Amos said he believed the “traditional psychiatric approach” that transgenderism can either be “serious” or “not very serious … but it’s still a condition … like anxiety”.
“The reason I think, many psychiatrists think, that what is called the gender-affirming model of care, which is the dominant model of gender medicine in Australia for people with gender dysphoria ... the reason we believe that’s a problem is it suggests that not only clinicians, but everybody around a child, should automatically affirm whatever gender identity they present as their current gender identity.
“If you then reinforce that and you say, well, today you think you’re a boy, yesterday you thought you were a girl, the point at which you start affirming that could potentially be reinforcing eventually a dysfunctional set of beliefs for that kid.”
Dr Kate Williamson from Upward Life Medical Practice in the Cairns CBD, who has a transgender son, said Dr Amos’ views were potentially harmful.
“I see nearly two transgender patients per day,” she said.
“All the medical guidelines say you should take a position of affirming gender, because feelings of gender incongruence are almost always longstanding and rarely, if ever on a whim.”
She warned the danger of taking a different approach to people with longstanding feelings of gender incongruence “could lead a transgender person to take their own life”.
Dr Williamson added attempts to persuade transgender people or use therapy to convince them their gender identity, could have serious negative consequences.
Sexual health specialist Dr Darren Russell from JCU said he believed Dr Amos views were “in the minority”.
“Being transgender is always a lifetime experience, it doesn't change, gender clinics for children treat them over years not a couple of appointments,” he said.
“Most of us working in this field really prefer to rely on the science and the evidence that we have, not on our feelings about transgender people and working with them.”
Far North Queensland trans woman and LGBTIQ activist Wendy Ramsay said the views were not only potentially harmful to transgender people, but also set the Australian psychiatry industry 20 years behind its global counterparts.
“The views of the article really are sweeping a whole bunch of real life experiences into the bin in terms of actual issues we face as trans people living in Australia and globally,” Ms Ramsay said.
“To simply say all cases of gender dysphoria are a mental illness equivalent of schizophrenia is itself not accurate and also unfounded.”
Ms Ramsay claimed she looked into Australian and American psychiatric journals, the majority of which base their models of practice on gender affirming care.
“Having read a lot of academic texts and spoken to medical professors, it’s dangerous in the point of view that (Dr Amos’) article is playing into the hands of people less educated in this particular topic,” she said.
Ms Ramsay said the views expressed in the article could make it harder for transgender people to access already limited mental and physical healthcare, particularly in Far North Queensland.
“This author’s work is literally about 20 years or more behind current thinking,” she said.
“If that’s the state of academic psychiatric teachings, then not only are the practitioners of psychiatric work being disrespected for keeping up to date but every person involved in medical care of trans people, and broadly LGBTQIA+ is being misinterpreted and misrepresented.”
In a statement the The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists said Dr Amos’ views were his own.
“Being trans or gender diverse is not a mental health condition,” the statement read.
“RANZCP also acknowledges stigma, discrimination, trauma, abuse and assault contribute to Trans and Gender Diverse people experiencing higher rates of mental illness than the general population.”
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