Czech Mental Health Institute launches initiative to help transgender people cope with anxiety, depression

Transgender people are those whose gender differs from the sex they were born with. Suicidal tendencies and inclination for self-harm appear in up to half of the transgender people who are clients of therapeutical services in the Czech Republic, as a result of their emotional pain, trauma, minority stress, social isolation, etc., experts say. Data on the share of transgender people in the population differ, the estimates ranging from 0.3 to 4 percent of the population. “People can start realizing their gender disharmony anytime, often since their childhood. It is no matter of fashion… In other cultures, gender diversity was often perceived as something normal and respectable,” NUDZ doctor Pavla Doležalová said. Two years ago, the World Health Organisation (WHO) approved a resolution to remove sexual identity disorder from its list of international diagnoses. It has been newly defined as gender disharmony. “In practice, this will help reduce the social stigmatization, traumatization, and systemic forcibility, and make the necessary healthcare and surgeries accessible. It will also help remove discrimination and the persisting barriers in the access to preventive services, HIV testing, and aftercare,” Doležalová said.