Why are transgender people more likely to commit suicide?

[tackattack]

I think I’ve dreamed up better arguments from ignorance in my sleep 0LB. It’s either knowable or not. If the reason is knowable posit a reason or gtfo and stop storing the pot for s&g.

[Foxaèr]

Generally, LGBTQ youth is at a higher risk of suicide due to the inability to find the support they need.

That is why The Trevor Project is so important.

[Porcupine]

One reason why transphobic bigotry is so often wrongly treated as totally kosher and not to count as bigotry is because many fools believe that being trans is a delusion and hence isn't based on reality or isn't 'real'.

Many people treat feeling that your gender doesn't match your biology is to be out of touch with reality. Such people act as if their own bigotry is just trying to get transpeople to "face the facts." Such bigots also act as if all transpeople need treatment or are sick.

[The Grand Nudger]

You can't figure out what unique stress a trans person might have, John, that can be alleviated by gender affirming care or surgery? That's a point of data that doesn't fit in the referenced study, which your theory addresses?

In our world, outside of discriminatory barriers, gender dysphoria would lead to gender affirming care, not suicidal ideation. Those thoughts are bound up in frustration with a persons inability to achieve self actualization.

[Rev. Rye]

And before anyone says "maybe you should try and treat the dysphoria without having to give into their deluded ideas of gender; you don't give someone who thinks they're Napoleon complete control over continental Europe" I seriously have to ask: if that actually worked, don't you think mental health professionals would be doing that already? You can argue that trans people have the APA by the balls and are trying to force the medical community to fit the science to their ideas, but the Trans community has only had any sort of pull for the past couple years, and solutions that revolve around making their bodies match the gender they believe is theirs has been the default for DECADES.

[TaraJo]

Because of how they are mistreated.

It kinda boils down to this.

Want me to go into detail?  

I started hormones all the way back in 2008 and attempted social transition in 2009.  It was rough.  I'll admit now, I attempted the social part a bit too soon (not to mention the recession at the time didn't help me), but I still would have had to bite that bullet at some point anyway.

I used to be able to find support, somewhere, but when I transitioned a lot of that support dried up.  Family support?  Gone.  Social services?  Those were tricky; I would have had to rely on men's social support services and staying in a men's homeless shelter wouldn't have been easy (communal showers aren't your friend when you have the beginning of boobs).  It would have been nice to get a job and just take care of myself, but nobody would hire me anymore.  I was able to get some support in the trans community but a lot of the people who "helped" me were drama queens themselves and made things worse in a way.  Even applying for unemployment or seeking medical care were difficult.  Had someone in an ambulance call me "a he/she/it" once and ambulance people are supposed to have empathy.

[LadyForCamus]

OLB, why does every thread you post always come across like you’re trying to pick a fight?

[The Architect Of Fate]

Transphobia is the biggest factor and no comparing them to blacks is stupid as it's not THE SAME kind of mistreatment

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And before anyone says "maybe you should try and treat the dysphoria without having to give into their deluded ideas of gender; you don't give someone who thinks they're Napoleon complete control over continental Europe" I seriously have to ask: if that actually worked, don't you think mental health professionals would be doing that already? You can argue that trans people have the APA by the balls and are trying to force the medical community to fit the science to their ideas, but the Trans community has only had any sort of pull for the past couple years, and solutions that revolve around making their bodies match the gender they believe is theirs has been the default for DECADES.

Another problem with that logic is Trans has already been tested as psychosis and it doesn't pass the clinical definition and the best treatment we have for gender dyspohria we have is gender affirmation and transition . I split Dysphoria from Trans because they are not inherently the same .

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Two disclaimers: There was a lot of statistical information to digest so I only got the gist of the article. And I only read a few of the comments here. If I misread something in the article I'll correct it when I'm home.

The proper way to test whether or not discrimination leads to higher suicide rates in the trans community, would be to compare them to another community that faces equal discrimination. Presumably the non-trans members of the LGBT community. Comparing them to the general population is uninformative.

The article listed many ways in which discrimination and lack of support leads to suicide ideation, etc., within the community. However, one bit of data that doesn't quiet fit for me is that these rates go down for those that underwent hormone therapy or surgery. And back up for those that transitioned back to their original sex.

This is perhaps the only bit of data that makes me wonder if there is something unique about transgenders that other discriminated groups do not face. I base this on the assumption that transsexuals face more discrimination than other transgenders. Given that it is typically the appearance of being transexual that draws the most attention. Yet their rates go down after transitioning.

My theory would be that the transgender community faces higher suicide rates than other groups, because of the dysphoria they often experience. The feeling that you don't belong in your own body and are trapped in the wrong sex is bound to lead to depression and suicidal thoughts even in a world without discrimination.

This assumes all groups will manifest mistreatment the same . Your last sentence has the issue of automatically conflating Trans with dysphoria these are distinct and would not explain trans who commit suicide without dysphoria

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Unfortunately, given that it’s still legal in many states to discriminate against trans people, it’s kind of hard to find a group that gets an equal amount of discrimination.

If such is the case there should be data to confirm it. And if there's data that discrimination is not equal between the groups you can still do within-subjects and between-subject analysis to see how much discrimination correlates with suicide for each group.

My prediction is that homophobia and transphobia are about the same. (And not because I have a textbook on the psychology of predjudice and that's what it says lol)

Yes as in both are massive

[TaraJo]

Transphobia is the biggest factor and no comparing them to blacks is stupid as it's not THE SAME kind of mistreatment

Absolutely!  Two very distinct differences here that I can think of right off the top of my head:

1)  If you're black or hispanic or Jewish or a member of another racial or ethnic minority, at least your family are all going to be in the same boat as you.  It's not like the family of black people is going to reject them for being black; they're black too.  LGBT people, especially trans people, don't get that luxury.  A lot of us have very homophobic/transphobic families.  It's not at all uncommon for homeless teens to be mostly gay or transgender, simply because their parents threw them out.  

2)  If you're transgender, the discomfort you get just from your body being wrong.... that's a kind of discomfort that can't directly be relieved by social acceptance.  Even if the rest of the world accepts me 100% as a woman, that doesn't change the feeling of discomfort I get from having to shave my face or from having to special order giant size women's shoes.  If there were some kind of racial dysphoria, where it just feels absolutely wrong for such-and-such person to be such-and-such race, well, we can compare the two then, but I haven't seen it yet.

[The Grand Nudger]

Our recent fragility may be the start of racial dysphoria (assuming that it doesn't already exist...). The wait could get real short real quick.

If we took the complaints of the complex to be genuine (not necessarily true, but genuinely felt, at least) then they fear that they are being compelled to race shame, and that their children will be indoctrinated to race shame. A person sympathetic to these narratives will immediately see a valid comparison between race and gender with regards to dysphoria.

Leaning in, we can say, yes, if society is denying you pride and compelling you to shame it would be in the process of manufacturing race dysphoria... and that would be bad. If we must compare, it only reaffirms the statements that it might be invoked as a screen against.