A systems approach to child effeminacy and the prevention of adolescent transsexualism

This paper describes the treatment of a boy with transsexual behaviour by means of family therapy supplemented by group therapy. It argues that a family systems approach can grasp dimensions of the problems of transsexualism that are missed if an exclusively individual treatment approach is adopted, and concludes that a family systems approach should be part of the assessment and treatment of all children and adolescents presenting with effeminacy or transsexual problems.