Chapter Ii: Review of Literature

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Chapter Ii: Review of Literature AVOIDING UNHELPFUL RESPONSES: A PROPOSED THEORETICAL MEASURE OF READINESS TO WORK WITH TRANSGENDER CLIENTS A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Antioch University Seattle Seattle, WA In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements of the Degree Doctor of Psychology By A. Ianto West November 2018 AVOIDING UNHELPFUL RESPONSES: A PROPOSED THEORETICAL MEASURE OF READINESS TO WORK WITH TRANSGENDER CLIENTS This dissertation, by A. Ianto West, has been approved by the committee members signed below who recommend that it be accepted by the faculty of the Antioch University Seattle at Seattle, WA in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PSYCHOLOGY Dissertation Committee: _____________________________ Dana Waters, Psy.D., ABPP Chairperson _____________________________ Christopher Heffner, Ph.D., Psy.D. _____________________________ Jessye Cohen-Filipic, Ph.D. November 13, 2018______________ Date ii © Copyright by A. Ianto West, 2018 All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT AVOIDING UNHELPFUL STATEMENTS: A PROPOSED THEORETICAL MEASURE OF READINESS TO WORK WITH TRANSGENDER CLIENTS A. Ianto West Antioch University Seattle Seattle, WA When transgender people most need help, many face hostility and inadequate care from their health providers, including psychologists. This hostility is not surprising given widespread lack of familiarity with transgender issues or perspectives amongst clinicians. Even amongst those who hold the stance of openness to the other, most still have considerable difficulty working with transgender clients. Transgender training efforts vary in quality; some even appear to worsen attitudes towards transgender clients. Given these risks, it is crucial that clinical training directors and supervisors evaluate trainees’ abilities to facilitate respectful initial conversations with transgender clients. This project proposed an objective instrument for assessing a mental health clinician, or clinical trainee’s ability to discriminate between helpful and unhelpful responses commonly made in the initial clinical encounters with transgender clients. Development of the instrument is grounded in a combination of theoretical and empirical literature on the topic and is synthesized with the personal and professional experiences of the primary researcher as a transgender person and emerging clinician. This study utilized systematic expert review to examine the validity of this proposed instrument. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and Ohio Link ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/etd Keywords: transgender, clinical training, multicultural competency, test development iv Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to all who desire to work with transgender clients in a beneficial and non-injurious way, and to the teachers making this possible. This dissertation is also dedicated to those brave enough to speak up on transgender issues—especially when doing so is uncomfortable. Special thanks to the scholars in my life for teaching me how to undertake this work, and to the rebels in my life for showing me why it is worth it. Thanks also to all who are brave enough to show up for accountability moments with grace. v Acknowledgments Thanks to Dr. Dana Waters for many hours carefully reading this project. The timeliness of your feedback made it possible for me to maintain momentum throughout the course of this project. Without it, I would have been ABD for certain. Thanks to my committee members. Dr. Christopher Heffner, you have listened to me talk about this project in several classes. You always seemed to ask the right questions to help me clarify my thinking. Dr. Jessye Cohen-Filipic, your presentation at APA came at just the right time. That workshop helped stretch my thinking on supervision to a new level. My analysis took another leap forward soon after. Thanks to my family for supporting me in this process. Special thanks to my love Carissa West for giving me many, many cups of coffee and being very patient on the many weekends and evenings I worked on this project. Thanks to my grandfather for giving me a chemistry lecture instead of being a normal babysitter when I was 8. This was one of many family interactions that helped launch my interest and capacity for science. Thanks also to the found family who listened to me talk my way out of my head and back onto paper. On the first class of the first year of this program, Dr. Jude Berkgamp addressed the “ghosts in the room”—the people not currently present who have brought us to where we are. Special thanks to the ghosts. vi Table of Contents Table of Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iv Dedication ........................................................................................................................................v Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix List of Figures ..................................................................................................................................x CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................1 Overview ...................................................................................................................................3 Terminology .............................................................................................................................3 Purpose of the Study ...............................................................................................................10 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................................................11 Importance of Transgender-Specific Skills ............................................................................13 Social and Historical Context of Transgender Healthcare .....................................................25 Defining Unhelpful Responses ...............................................................................................37 Rupture Recoveries .................................................................................................................65 Approaches to Skill Measurement ..........................................................................................90 Test Development ...................................................................................................................93 The Current Study ...................................................................................................................93 CHAPTER III: METHODS ...........................................................................................................95 Overall Test Development, Steps and Progression .................................................................95 Pilot Project ............................................................................................................................96 The Current Study .................................................................................................................100 vii CHAPTER IV: RESULTS ...........................................................................................................108 Participation Characteristics .................................................................................................108 Quality and Completeness of Feedback ...............................................................................111 Quality of Open-Ended Expert Feedback .............................................................................116 Identified Items to Revise .....................................................................................................119 Tentative Revision and Second Review ...............................................................................123 Results Summary ..................................................................................................................127 CHAPTER V: DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................128 Quality of Feedback ..............................................................................................................128 Assessment of the Current Study ..........................................................................................133 Future Directions ..................................................................................................................140 References ....................................................................................................................................145 Appendix A: Recruitment Flyer...................................................................................................168 Appendix B: Informed Consent ...................................................................................................170 Appendix C: Phone Interview for Selecting Subject Matter Experts ..........................................172 Appendix D: Proposed Items to be Reviewed by Subject Matter Experts ..................................174 Appendix E: Summary of Flagged Items.....................................................................................206
Recommended publications
  • Unconscionable and Unconstitutional: Bill C-8'S Attempt to Dictate Choices Concerning Sexuality and Gender
    Unconscionable and Unconstitutional Bill C-8’s Attempt to Dictate Choices Concerning Sexuality and Gender May 12, 2020 Marty Moore, JD, and Jocelyn Gerke, BComm, MPP, JD (Student-at-Law) Mail: #253, 7620 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary, AB • T2V 1K2 Web: www.jccf.ca • Email: [email protected] • Phone: (403) 475-3622 CRA registered charity number 81717 4865 RR0001 CONTENTS Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 1 I. Bill C-8: An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy) .................................. 2 A. An overly broad definition of “conversion therapy” .............................................................. 2 B. Bill C-8 restricts children’s and adults’ access to care.......................................................... 3 C. Bill C-8 imposes an ideological view of sexuality and gender ............................................... 5 II. Bill C-8 Restricts Health Professionals’ Ability to Treat Children’s Gender Distress without Transition and Medicalization ....................................................................................... 7 A. Bill C-8’s imposition of a single treatment path for children ................................................. 7 B. Violation of practitioners’ and patients’ freedom of thought, opinion, belief and expression 9 C. Political interference with medical and scientific debate limits healthcare options .............. 9 III. Bill C-8’s Violation of the Charter Rights of Children and Parents
    [Show full text]
  • From Logic to Rhetoric: a Contextualized Pedagogy for Fallacies
    Current Issue From the Editors Weblog Editorial Board Editorial Policy Submissions Archives Accessibility Search Composition Forum 32, Fall 2015 From Logic to Rhetoric: A Contextualized Pedagogy for Fallacies Anne-Marie Womack Abstract: This article reenvisions fallacies for composition classrooms by situating them within rhetorical practices. Fallacies are not formal errors in logic but rather persuasive failures in rhetoric. I argue fallacies are directly linked to successful rhetorical strategies and pose the visual organizer of the Venn diagram to demonstrate that claims can achieve both success and failure based on audience and context. For example, strong analogy overlaps false analogy and useful appeal to pathos overlaps manipulative emotional appeal. To advance this argument, I examine recent changes in fallacies theory, critique a-rhetorical textbook approaches, contextualize fallacies within the history and theory of rhetoric, and describe a methodology for rhetorically reclaiming these terms. Today, fallacy instruction in the teaching of written argument largely follows two paths: teachers elevate fallacies as almost mathematical formulas for errors or exclude them because they don’t fit into rhetorical curriculum. Both responses place fallacies outside the realm of rhetorical inquiry. Fallacies, though, are not as clear-cut as the current practice of spotting them might suggest. Instead, they rely on the rhetorical situation. Just as it is an argument to create a fallacy, it is an argument to name a fallacy. This article describes an approach in which students must justify naming claims as successful strategies and/or fallacies, a process that demands writing about contexts and audiences rather than simply linking terms to obviously weak statements.
    [Show full text]
  • Gordon, Specious Arguments
    Specious Arguments Dr. T. David Gordon Professor of Greek, Humanities, and Religion Grove City College Introduction Although we commonly use the term “argument” to describe a rather unprofitable, angry exchange of viewpoints, the term has also been used to describe the reasons advanced for embracing a particular viewpoint. This is how I will use the term here. As such, arguments are, of course, vital to the human race. When a particular neurosurgeon “argues” for treating a given patient a given way, he or she is not being argumentative; but rather is contending for a procedure which, it is hoped, will restore the patient to health. The argument is designed to promote life. In a similar way, arguments are vital to advancing the Christian faith. Paul spoke of the “warfare” of the Christian religion in this way: “for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4). Negatively, the Christian faith wages war against false arguments. This explains Paul’s instruction to Titus about bishops: “He must have a firm grasp of the word…, so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9). But positively, the faith is also propagated by setting forth correct and true arguments. The apostle Peter, for instance, “…testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation’” (Acts 2:40).
    [Show full text]
  • The Paradox of Authenticity: the Depoliticization of Trans Identity
    The Paradox of Authenticity: The Depoliticization of Trans Identity THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Meredith Cecilia Lee Graduate Program in Women's Studies The Ohio State University 2012 Master's Examination Committee: Professor Shannon Winnubst, Advisor Professor Mary Thomas Professor Jian Chen Copyright by Meredith Cecilia Lee 2012 Abstract The language of authenticity that valorizes the mind over the body is embedded in Cartesian dualism, which thereby inspires an entirely personal understanding of self- fulfillment. Within the trans community, this language depoliticizes trans issues by framing nonnormative gender presentation as a personal issue. This paper examines the relationship of Cartesian dualism to the paradoxes of authenticity in trans medico- scientific discourse. For example, to express authenticity and gain social recognition within the medical model of trans identity, an individual must articulate her/his desire within the normative language of the medical establishment; therefore, the quest for authenticity is already foreclosed through the structures of normalization. This paper argues that, while medical procedures typically normalize one’s body to “pass” as the other sex, these procedures are also necessary for many trans individuals to gain social recognition and live a bearable life. The notion that trans individuals are “trapped” in the wrong body has been the dominant paradigm since at least the 1950s. This paper argues that centering gender in the body constructs gender as ahistorical and thereby erases the political, economic, and cultural significance of trans oppression and struggle. This paper concludes that the systematic pathologization of nonnormative sex/gender identification has historically constituted the notion that gender trouble is indeed a personal problem that should be cured through medical science.
    [Show full text]
  • Debating DSM 5 Zowie Davy Phd, Senior Lecturer in C
    Commentary on the construction of Gender Dysphoria at Classifying Sex: Debating DSM 5 Zowie Davy PhD, Senior Lecturer in Community Care, University of Lincoln, UK. Context to the commentary On the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) website the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM‐5), is promoted as the “most comprehensive, current, and critical resource for clinical practice available to today's mental health clinicians and researchers of all orientations” (American Psychiatric Association, 2012a). The manual is ‘comprehensive,’ indeed; it has grown in size since its first edition to over 900 pages in its current DSM 5 incarnation. We could argue as Farley, the former president of the American Psychological Association, does that the DSM authors are contributing to an increase in “the relentless production of disorders and pathologizing of normal extremes” (Gornall, 2013: no page no.) and the facilitating of mental illnesses. In response to the publication of the DSM‐5, a two‐day conference at the University of Cambridge took place: Classifying Sex: Debating DSM‐5, at which discussants debated the potential impact of the manual’s criteria for pathological, paraphilic and by default ‘normal’ sexualities, gender identities, and psychiatric practice. The delegates considered amongst many other topics the role of power and evidence, at least that is how I understood many of the contributions to the debate. The panel that I was invited to contribute to featured Kenneth Zucker (Chair of the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders workgroup of DSM‐5) to whom I was to critically respond. In this reflective commentary I would like to focus on power and evidence because Zucker has previously described the DSM’s international influence as spreading from clinical care, clinical training to clinical research (Zucker, 2010b).
    [Show full text]
  • 10 Fallacies and Examples Pdf
    10 fallacies and examples pdf Continue A: It is imperative that we promote adequate means to prevent degradation that would jeopardize the project. Man B: Do you think that just because you use big words makes you sound smart? Shut up, loser; You don't know what you're talking about. #2: Ad Populum: Ad Populum tries to prove the argument as correct simply because many people believe it is. Example: 80% of people are in favor of the death penalty, so the death penalty is moral. #3. Appeal to the body: In this erroneous argument, the author argues that his argument is correct because someone known or powerful supports it. Example: We need to change the age of drinking because Einstein believed that 18 was the right age of drinking. #4. Begging question: This happens when the author's premise and conclusion say the same thing. Example: Fashion magazines do not harm women's self-esteem because women's trust is not damaged after reading the magazine. #5. False dichotomy: This misconception is based on the assumption that there are only two possible solutions, so refuting one decision means that another solution should be used. It ignores other alternative solutions. Example: If you want better public schools, you should raise taxes. If you don't want to raise taxes, you can't have the best schools #6. Hasty Generalization: Hasty Generalization occurs when the initiator uses too small a sample size to support a broad generalization. Example: Sally couldn't find any cute clothes in the boutique and couldn't Maura, so there are no cute clothes in the boutique.
    [Show full text]
  • 35. Logic: Common Fallacies Steve Miller Kennesaw State University, [email protected]
    Kennesaw State University DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University Sexy Technical Communications Open Educational Resources 3-1-2016 35. Logic: Common Fallacies Steve Miller Kennesaw State University, [email protected] Cherie Miller Kennesaw State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/oertechcomm Part of the Technical and Professional Writing Commons Recommended Citation Miller, Steve and Miller, Cherie, "35. Logic: Common Fallacies" (2016). Sexy Technical Communications. 35. http://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/oertechcomm/35 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Educational Resources at DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sexy Technical Communications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Logic: Common Fallacies Steve and Cherie Miller Sexy Technical Communication Home Logic and Logical Fallacies Taken with kind permission from the book Why Brilliant People Believe Nonsense by J. Steve Miller and Cherie K. Miller Brilliant People Believe Nonsense [because]... They Fall for Common Fallacies The dull mind, once arriving at an inference that flatters the desire, is rarely able to retain the impression that the notion from which the inference started was purely problematic. ― George Eliot, in Silas Marner In the last chapter we discussed passages where bright individuals with PhDs violated common fallacies. Even the brightest among us fall for them. As a result, we should be ever vigilant to keep our critical guard up, looking for fallacious reasoning in lectures, reading, viewing, and especially in our own writing. None of us are immune to falling for fallacies.
    [Show full text]
  • Argument Content and Argument Source: an Exploration
    Argument Content and Argument Source: An Exploration ULRIKE HAHN ADAM J.L. HARRIS ADAM CORNER School of Psychology Cardiff University Tower Building Park Place Cardiff CF10 3AT United Kingdom [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Abstract: Argumentation is pervasive Résumé: L’argumentation est em- in everyday life. Understanding what ployée couramment dans la vie de tous makes a strong argument is therefore les jours. Il est donc dans notre intérêt of both theoretical and practical théorique et pratique de comprendre interest. One factor that seems ce qui rend un argument puissant. Un intuitively important to the strength of facteur qui semble intuitivement im- an argument is the reliability of the portant qui contribue à cette puissance source providing it. Whilst traditional est la fiabilité des sources d’infor- approaches to argument evaluation are mation employées dans un argument. silent on this issue, the Bayesian Quoique les approches traditionnelles approach to argumentation (Hahn & sur l’évaluation d’un argument soient Oaksford, 2007) is able to capture silencieuses sur ce sujet, l’approche important aspects of source reliability. bayesienne peut apporter quelques In particular, the Bayesian approach aspects importants sur l’évaluation de predicts that argument content and la fiabilité des sources: elle prédit que source reliability should interact to le contenu d’un argument et la fiabilité determine argument strength. In this d’une source devraient agir un sur paper, we outline the approach and l’autre pour déterminer la puissance then demonstrate the importance of d’un argument. Dans cet article nous source reliability in two empirical traçons les grandes lignes de cette studies.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Reasoning in Constructing a Persuasive Argument
    The Role of Reasoning in Constructing a Persuasive Argument <http://www.orsinger.com/PDFFiles/constructing-a-persuasive-argument.pdf> [The pdf version of this document is web-enabled with linking endnotes] Richard R. Orsinger [email protected] http://www.orsinger.com McCurley, Orsinger, McCurley, Nelson & Downing, L.L.P. San Antonio Office: 1717 Tower Life Building San Antonio, Texas 78205 (210) 225-5567 http://www.orsinger.com and Dallas Office: 5950 Sherry Lane, Suite 800 Dallas, Texas 75225 (214) 273-2400 http://www.momnd.com State Bar of Texas 37th ANNUAL ADVANCED FAMILY LAW COURSE August 1-4, 2011 San Antonio CHAPTER 11 © 2011 Richard R. Orsinger All Rights Reserved The Role of Reasoning in Constructing a Persuasive Argument Chapter 11 Table of Contents I. THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSUASION.. 1 II. PERSUASION IN ARGUMENTATION.. 1 III. BACKGROUND.. 2 IV. USER’S GUIDE FOR THIS ARTICLE.. 2 V. ARISTOTLE’S THREE COMPONENTS OF A PERSUASIVE SPEECH.. 3 A. ETHOS.. 3 B. PATHOS.. 4 C. LOGOS.. 4 1. Syllogism.. 4 2. Implication.. 4 3. Enthymeme.. 4 (a) Advantages and Disadvantages of Commonplaces... 5 (b) Selection of Commonplaces.. 5 VI. ARGUMENT MODELS (OVERVIEW)... 5 A. LOGIC-BASED ARGUMENTS. 5 1. Deductive Logic.. 5 2. Inductive Logic.. 6 3. Reasoning by Analogy.. 7 B. DEFEASIBLE ARGUMENTS... 7 C. THE TOULMIN ARGUMENTATION MODEL... 7 D. FALLACIOUS ARGUMENTS.. 8 E. ARGUMENTATION SCHEMES.. 8 VII. LOGICAL REASONING (DETAILED ANALYSIS).. 8 A. DEDUCTIVE REASONING.. 8 1. The Categorical Syllogism... 8 a. Graphically Depicting the Simple Categorical Syllogism... 9 b. A Legal Dispute as a Simple Syllogism.. 9 c.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dissidents
    CHAPTER SEVEN THE DISSIDENTS ntil the 2015 controversy that cost him his job, Kenneth Zucker was Uuniversally recognized as an international expert on child and ado- lescent gender dysphoria. As psychologist-in-chief of Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and head of its Gender Identity Service, he spent decades conducting research and practicing what he had trained to do—help children and adolescents with gender dysphoria grow more comfortable in their bodies. In 2007, Dr. Zucker oversaw the writing of the definition of “gender dysphoria” for the DSM-5.1 He also helped write the “Standards of Care” guidelines for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).2 Until transgender activists rallied against him, most health professionals practicing in this area regarded Dr. Zucker as an international authority on what “gender dysphoria” was. His philosophy was simple, though his understanding of gender dysphoria was anything but: a child or adolescent in distress is not reduc- ible to one problem. To reach an accurate diagnosis, Dr. Zucker believes mental health professionals need to look at the whole kid. 123 124 IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE Some children latch onto gender dysphoria as a way of coping with trauma or other distress. A therapist needed to question the patient’s understanding of gender in order to determine why the patient might have fixated on that as a source of their problems. What beliefs did the patient have about boys or girls? Why did the child or adolescent come to believe changing gender would lead to a happier life? The goal of the questioning was often to challenge the notion that biological sex was the source of the patient’s problem and, wherever possible, to alleviate the dysphoria.
    [Show full text]
  • Common Reasoning Mistakes
    Common Fallacies (mistakes of reasoning) The fallacy fallacy • There is danger even in the study of fallacies. This study involves identifying certain patterns of reasoning as fallacies. Each pattern has a name. E.g. an argument that attacks a person is ad hominem. But ad hominem arguments are not always fallacies! • Rejecting an argument as a (named) fallacy, based on its pattern alone, is a fallacy that we might call the fallacy fallacy. • In general, an ad hominem is only legitimate when attacking an argument from authority. • But not all such attacks on authority are legitimate. They can be made on irrelevant grounds. Irrelevant ad hominem E.g. Einstein’s physics was attacked on the basis of Einstein being Jewish. Thomas Powers, Heisenberg’s War, p. 41 Fallacy? • Alliance leader Stockwell Day argues that Canada should increase its military expenditure now, by at least 20%, in order to continue to meet our NATO obligations five years from now. But Day is a fundamentalist who thinks the universe is only 6,000 years old! Clearly his view can be dismissed. • Probably a fallacy. If Day is presenting evidence (e.g. based on future NATO obligations) then an ad hominem response is automatically fallacious. Even if Day is arguing from authority, then his (religion based) views about the age of the earth are likely not relevant to his views about military needs. • Mr. Wilson, in his letter of January 16, argues that it would be counter-productive to yield to the demands of the hostage takers. He does not, I take it, have a son or daughter among the hostages.
    [Show full text]
  • The Transgender Tipping Point: It Is Not the Transperson Who Is Disordered but the Society in Which S/He Lives1 by Joelle Ruby Ryan, Ph.D
    The Transgender Tipping Point: It is Not the Transperson Who is Disordered but the Society in which S/he Lives1 By Joelle Ruby Ryan, Ph.D. Candidate, Bowling Green State University Presented at the International Foundation for Gender Education Conference (IFGE-2009): Alexandria, Virginia: February 6, 2009 [This paper is in preparation for publication. V: 2-20-09 I am seeking peer commentary prior to publication. Kindly email feedback to [email protected] ] In sociology, a tipping point, or angle of repose, is when a previously rare phenomenon becomes speedily, considerably and vividly more common. In this paper, it is my assertion that the previously rare phenomenon which has materialized into extensive and exciting commonality is the emergence of multiple forms of transgender advocacy: grass-roots activism, political lobbying, emancipatory internet and print publishing, and speaking truth to power. In his influential 2000 book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,2 Malcolm Gladwell describes the tipping point as the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point. 3 Gladwell also writes: The possibility of sudden change is at the center of the idea of the Tipping Point and might well be the hardest of all to accept. 4 Since the early to mid 1990s, there has been a formidable and unstoppable wave of committed, militant and subversive transgender activism. Here in 2009, I truly believe we are rapidly approaching a revolutionary threshold from which no malevolent entity can force us backwards. However, in order to reach a veritable tipping point, it will require continued vigilance, action, perseverance and existential courage.
    [Show full text]