"Lost in Trans Nation" - Book Review Series - Chapter 3
July 2, 2024
The third in a series of chapter reviews of the book, Lost in Trans Nation: A Child Psychiatrist’s Guide Out of the Madness by Dr. Miriam Grossman, reviewed by CPL Board Member Barb Anderson.
We urge you to read Dr. Grossman’s book in its entirety to better understand the origins and power of the transgender cult, so you will be better equipped to address this issue.
Chapter Three Review - Rosa
In Chapter Three, Dr. Grossman introduces the reader to Rosa, a fifteen-year-old girl who suddenly self-diagnosed as transgender following a traumatic experience. Rosa’s condition, coined ‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria’ (ROGD) by Dr. Lisa Littman, was similar to other adolescents across the globe in recent years. This unique type of gender dysphoria (GD), presenting primarily in teen girls with no prior history, has emerged over the past two decades and was essentially responsible for a mind-boggling 4,555 percent increase in patients at London’s Tavistock Gender Identity Service (GIDS), the world’s largest gender clinic. Worldwide, countries have documented similar surges and the vast majority of these patients had at least one mental health disorder or neurodevelopmental disability. Many others had lives shaped by a traumatic event.
Dr. Grossman carefully addresses the differences in the current ROGD phenomenon vs. early-onset, or adult-onset GD.Whereas historical cases of GD occurred in isolation and without the influence of social media, today’s ROGD diagnoses occur in “cluster outbreaks”. Large numbers of girls in the same friend group identify as transgender in quick succession. Since GD outbreaks among pre-existing peers are almost always coupled with immersion in social media, they are also referred to as a “social contagion”. Teens binge-watch transition videos on YouTube and Tumblr, where prominent influencers heavily promote “urgent” transition as the only solution to a myriad of common teenage problems. They also provide tips to deceive doctors and parents who may question their transition, such as labeling them intolerant and hate-filled. Dr. Grossman names these top influencers, and provides several examples of their content which has reached multitudes of teenagers.
Incredibly, 70 percent of parents surveyed in Dr. Littman’s research “reported clinicians did not explore their child’s mental health” or ask for previous medical history. Instead of asking “why” the child was experiencing a sudden onset of gender dysphoria, clinicians fast-tracked affirmation of the child’s self-diagnosis and their subsequent medical transition. This approach is not supported by long-term research which, according to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM-4), has shown that “only a very small number of children with gender identity disorder [as it was called then] will continue to have symptoms . . . in later adolescence or young adulthood.” Dr. Littman challenged the medical establishment with a provocative suggestion that social and medical affirmation may result in “an iatrogenic persistence of gender dysphoria in individuals who would have had their gender dysphoria resolve on its own.” Dr. Grossman defines iatrogenic: “(when) a medical intervention - including something a health professional says or implies - causes harm.” In other words, the affirmation-only approach causes harm to the child.