ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the impact of extensive change of the body on the 'temporal link', which is an important feature of people identity as it provides continuity between different representations of the self over time. It focuses on a subset of transsexual patients who start their transitioning in early adolescence. Transitioning is a dynamic process involving bodily as well as psychological adjustments. Children as young as 3 years of age may experience gender dysphoria and cross-gender behaviour; however, only 16 per cent of these children will continue to have persistent Gender Identity Disorder (GID) in adolescence and adulthood. In addition to ongoing psychological support, pre-pubertal adolescents with persistent GID may thus be given hormonal treatment using gonado-trophin-releasing hormone analogue (GnRH) to suppress puberty once it has commenced, followed later by cross-sex hormone therapy to promote physical development in the affirmed gender.
