Psychological functioning of adolescent transsexuals: personality and psychopathology

Adolescent transsexuals were compared with adolescent psychiatric out-patients and first-year university students to determine the extent to which other psychopathology is a necessary condition for the development of transsexualism. Three areas of psychological functioning associated with fundamental psychological disturbances - perceptual inaccuracy, disorders of thought and negative self-image - were assessed by means of the Rorschach Comprehensive System. The group of adolescent transsexuals was found to be intermediate between adolescent psychiatric patients and nonpatients for extent of perceptual inaccuracy. They did not differ significantly from nonpatients with regard to thinking disturbances and negative self-image. The psychiatric patients included significantly more individuals characterized by negative self image than the other groups. The results support the idea that mayor psychopathology is not required for the development of transsexualism.