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Transgender People in Couple and Family Therapy

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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy

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Name of Family Form

Transgender.

Synonyms

Gender dysphoria; Gender non-conforming

Introduction

As transgender people are becoming more visible, people experiencing gender dysphoria have greater access to information about transgender identities and the transitioning process, and more couples and families are dealing with adjusting to a family member’s new expression of gender identity. Couple and family therapists are often unequipped to work with this population, having had little to no education about gender dysphoria, transgender identity, and the process of transitioning. This chapter will introduce clinicians to transgender identity and help them understand the impact of relational and cultural factors on gender transition and how to assess and intervene in couple and family therapy.

Description

Gender identity is described as “a category of social identity and refers to an individual’s identification as male, female, or occasionally, some category other than male and female.”...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Deb Coolhart & Linda Stone Fish

Authors
  1. Deb Coolhart
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  2. Linda Stone Fish
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deb Coolhart .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Jay L. Lebow

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Anthony L. Chambers

  3. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Center for Applied Psychological and Family Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. Illinois School of Professional Psychology, Argosy University, Schaumburg, IL, USA

    Mudita Rastogi

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Coolhart, D., Fish, L.S. (2019). Transgender People in Couple and Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_497

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