Gender Dysphoria as Complicated Terrain for Kids, Parents, and Clinicians

2 CE Hours available to NYS LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMFTs, LMHCs, LCATs, Psychologists and PsyDs

Beginning with an exploration of the nature of gender as seen through the respective lenses of psychoanalysis, science and culture, Dr. Schwartz will offer a psychodynamic understanding of gender dysphoria and transgender identity. He will carefully examine the discourse underlying the gender-affirmative approach to gender dysphoria and highlight what he views as some of the significant clinical considerations associated with that model. Dr. Schwartz will conclude with an exploration of three cultural trends which he sees as the underexamined sources of the current prominence of gender dysphoria and transgender identity. These are: 1)the decline of optimism and hope, 2) the idealization of technology and 3) the upsurge of undifferentiated information.

David Schwartz, PhD is a psychologist and psychoanalyst in Westchester County. He received his doctorate in psychology from the City University of New York and his certificate in psychoanalysis from the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He has been writing about gender, sexuality and psychoanalysis for the past thirty-five years.