Exploring Transsexualism

Is psychotherapeutic treatment powerless in the case of transsexualism? This intriguing volume by a French psychoanalyst with extensive experience of working with transsexuals is a useful addition to the debate on transsexualism and the definitions of sex and gender. Transsexuals feel that the opposite sex to their biological sex is their true identity - their true body and self. The idea of "hormonal and surgical sex reassignment" appeals to them; it would biologically put right what they already know to be right and true in their minds. The author discusses the problems of "reassigning" one’s sex and argues that surgery alone cannot fix the situation.

Colette Chiland is Professor Emeritus at Rene Descartes University of Paris; Psychiatrist-in-chief at the Alfred Binet Center and a Training Analyst of the Paris Psychoanalytical Society. She is also an Honorary President of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP). She has written numerous books and contributed papers to various journals. Colette read philosophy and psychology, then medicine and psychiatry at the University of Paris. She taught clinical psychology at La Sorbonne, then at Universite Paris Descartes, and is training analyst at the Paris Psychoanalytical Society.