But this is, roughly, the scenario created by “affirmative care,” the prevailing medical standard for the treatment of transgender patients. The standard asks—against much evidence, and sometimes contrary to their beliefs on the matter—that mental health professionals “affirm” not only the patient’s self-diagnosis of dysphoria but also the accuracy of the patients’ perception. The therapist must agree, in other words, that a male patient with gender dysphoria who identifies as a woman really is a woman.
