WCP 2025

Gender alone has become a determining factor in the development and construction of an individual's identity and personality and, consequently, the growing urge to define it within and for oneself. This definition has a direct influence on the concept of self-image, self-esteem, authenticity and belonging, affecting the mental and emotional health of young people (and future adults).

My work intends to shed some light on gender dysphoria as an environmental, generational and political symptom of our contemporary society and its demands.

My methodology provides a broad and generalized bibliographical review of worldwide research on the topic of gender identity and its consequences on mental health, as well as experimental methods and approaches to the psychotherapeutic work. Moreover, I have developed theoretical ideas and approaches that have emerged from empirical work with children and adolescents in my clinical practice over the last ten years. I also conducted Psychological Research Interviews to bring in lived experiences, and formulated deliberate hypotheses with my fellow psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists.

My theoretical approach is based on the psychological and archetypal concepts of gender identity and sexuality, gender roles and gender expression, as well as the Eastern and Western assumptions of female/male vs. woman/man, not forgetting the neurobiological and neurochemical basis that underpins it all.

My practical approach addresses the work with the soma and trauma related traits, associated with the dysphoria, namely, the transition from the dorsal vagus to the ventral vagus (a Polyvagal approach) and the regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Furthermore, I stablish a transferencecountertransference type of work from a Humanistic and Integrative perspective which is essential in reconstructing the individual’s sense of identity.

Awareness of gender roles and societal disparities, as well as early developmental trauma, misrepresentation of sexual and gender identity and identification, can contribute to the desire for gender change. In all cases, feelings of disgust and shame were identified regarding the “unwanted” gender.

Although the focus of treatment and diagnosis remains mainly on the physical aspect, the problem of gender (dysphoria) does not reside in the external image, but in the inner image that has been neglected for far too long. Somatic psychotherapy addresses and works on the inner image through the soma (in addition to the cognitive aspects). It is necessary to shift the focus away from the physical/biological/aesthetic matter. The matter is not so much biological (yet), but rather psycho-emotional and existential with a somatic translation, which is why more psychoeducation is needed, without excluding the movement to attempt to include different gender roles