2023-05-18 19:30:00
Five teenagers who took their own lives in the past two years were living in distress over questions regarding their gender, according to coroner’s reports.
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“Mr. X’s situation was not accepted by all the members of his family and he might be subjected to sarcasm,” writes coroner Bernard Lefrançois, regarding the suicide of an 18-year-old on the North Shore.
The psychological suffering experienced by people who identify with a gender other than the one assigned at birth is called gender dysphoria or gender identity disorder. The first manifestations often occur in early childhood.
And if the subject is increasingly discussed in the public sphere, the recent deaths prove that there is still work to be done to raise awareness, say experts. Moreover, one of the coroners points out that a 19-year-old teenager “might not overcome the difficulties associated with all the psychological suffering of which he had been a prisoner for several years”, even if he had begun a transition.
10 and 11 years old
Children as young as 10 and 11 took their own lives last year.
In Montreal, a coroner notes having found “a personal diary containing images and comments that show that she did not accept what she was, that she had difficulty with her physical appearance” at one of their children.
At 10, Annsofy Bastien now wanted to be called Alex, according to his mother, Annick Dinelle. Her child did not consider himself male or female regarding a month before his suicide.
- Listen to the interview with Catherine Parent, clinical coordinator at the psychosocial clinic L’intervention on QUB radio:
Increasing
“Gender questioning is really on the increase,” says psychoeducator Lara Quévillon, who has worked in a secondary school in Montérégie for 15 years.
She believes that it is the fruit of the work done to normalize these questions, whereas before, young people suffered in silence.
“It’s part of the abundance of possibilities […] For some, it remains at a questioning stage, but for others, there is gender dysphoria, ”continues child psychiatrist Annie Loiseau.
She notices that the young people who don’t dare talk regarding it fear that it will not be accepted in their family.
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