Rath said:
"I don't know what you're missing but it makes all the difference in the world. If they in fact have a mental condition then their perceived gender identity is no more valid a perception than someone who sees things that aren't there. If someone who is Bipolar has a manic episode nobody thinks its ok to let them do what they think/feel is right because they are not capable of making those decisions rationally. So why would it be any less morally objectionable to allow someone who has another mental condition to act on their delusions simply because they don't seem as strange?
From what I read on wikipedia it is pretty well established as a psychiatric issue and is dealt with on the mental side of medicine not the physical. But aside from that I have a very hard time believing that somebody of sound mind would fully believe that they were a man trapped in a woman's body or vice versa. Granted everyone has issues, but that just strikes me as a textbook delusion. There are 3 criteria to meet the modern psychatric standard for a diagnosis of delusional (quoting from wikipedia):
* certainty (held with absolute conviction)
* incorrigibility (not changeable by compelling counterargument or proof to the contrary)
* impossibility or falsity of content (implausible, bizarre or patently untrue)
They definitely hold the view with conviction, thier own body and DNA is proof to the contrary, and its fairly implausible and definitely bizarre. So yeah, delusional seems to be a factually correct term to use for this."
Do you agree that the best answer for a mental illness is treatment?
The only treatment that allows people with gender identity disorder to live a normal life is to give them a sex change. Even if they are delusional there is no way to get rid of the delusion.
Basically it comes down to two options if you consider it to be a delusion.
1. Let the person live a happy life by changing their body to match their delusion (no harm done to anybody)
2. Don't let them live a happy life by refusing to allow a sex change as they are merely delusional (a lot of harm done to the individual)
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See your final choices are whats known as a false dilemma.
Your first choice ignores the fact that there is harm done to someone, the person who is deluded. Its no different than taking advantage of the fact that someone is still waking up to get them to agree to something (I used to do this as a kid to my father, he still owes me a Corvette!). Allowing someone to act on the delusion in such a permanent way only worsens the situation by bolstering the belief and reaffirming the delusion. I'm no psychiatrist but that sounds like the worst option imaginable. Reaffirming a delusion is about as silly as kicking a lion in the balls, in the fact that both should be blatantly obvious as a horrible idea.
Your second option you've again labeled incorrectly, truthfully not allowing them the surgery in the case of someone who is delusional is quite clearly the only responsible action of the two. Can you imagine finally being helped out of your delusion only to discover that nobody stopped you from changing your body in such a dramatic way? That would cause entirely new issues and probably make it damn near impossible to ever rehabilitate the person. Assuming they are able to solve the original gender issue they would have a whole host of new mental issues as a result of what had become of their body.
It would literally be like waking up from a coma to find that you had a sex change because you said you wanted one while talking in your sleep (yes technically impossible but this is just an example)...I can't even begin to fathom the rationale for indulging someones delusion...its simply inconceivable to me that anyone would believe that to be a good idea.
Plain and simple the only way someone should ever be allowed to have their body modified with surgery is when they consent to it of a sound mind. Anything less than that is completely irresponsible. And frankly I don't even consider that point debatable.
