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aspergers and gender dysmorphia

markjulips

Hi - I have a 31year old son whom I think may have a mild form Aspergers but has never been diagnosed as it never entered our heads before my neice started having "problems" with her young son and he was diagnosed with autism (which made us do a lot of reading and research with her).  My son has an extremely high IQ and always been good at mathematics and computer programming and has always had obsessions in the past which have always fizzled out when he finds another.  He finds it extremely difficult to make friends, keep a job and has always had relationships with girls but when they end he gets depressed and suicidal.

Last year he revealed he has gender dysmorphia since having counselling sessions after when a psychologist suggested his failed relationships could be because he feels uncomfortable in his male role and I am concerned that this may be yet another obsession which will be irreversible if he does become a woman.  He has now been gioven the go-ahead to take hormones after 4 hours of specialist couselling and 1 seesion with a specialist psychiatrist.

Have any other parents been through this sort of thing or do they think I am just clutching at straws and just watch him go ahead?

Parents

  • Interesting stuff. I do think that a lot of the gender stuff is merely cultural, not inherent, and changes over time as societal expectations change. Your classic example of women liking flowers, make-up, chocolate, shoes, jewellery and perfume are just cultural, in my opinion. The more inherent traits of a "typical" female are nurturing, being empathetic etc, the rest are just window dressing.

    I don't mean to be offensive about it, so please don't take it that way, it's just my opinion. I know many women who are heterosexual and identify completely as women, but have quite tom-boyish interests, and some aren't interested in shoes and make-up. That stuff is just what our culture tells us females like, in reality women are just people and have a broad range of interests and likes, in just the same way that men do.

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  • Interesting stuff. I do think that a lot of the gender stuff is merely cultural, not inherent, and changes over time as societal expectations change. Your classic example of women liking flowers, make-up, chocolate, shoes, jewellery and perfume are just cultural, in my opinion. The more inherent traits of a "typical" female are nurturing, being empathetic etc, the rest are just window dressing.

    I don't mean to be offensive about it, so please don't take it that way, it's just my opinion. I know many women who are heterosexual and identify completely as women, but have quite tom-boyish interests, and some aren't interested in shoes and make-up. That stuff is just what our culture tells us females like, in reality women are just people and have a broad range of interests and likes, in just the same way that men do.

Children
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