Transgenderism is a mental illness

Rebuttal #1 "The proof that a 60-year-old is not a 6 year old is that he/she lived for 60 years, Likewise, The proof that someone born a male will die a male is that he only has XY chromosomes except for a few X chromosomes (biology 101, 1905). " Once again, This is irrelevant. We are not arguing the veracity of any transgender claim. We are arguing whether transgenderism is a mental illness. Unless you wish to propose that believing in something, Its veracity notwithstanding, Is a sign of (mental) illness, We can dispense with this line of argument. Rebuttal #2 "Therefore, By defining a mental illness as a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning, " It is too late to stipulate a definition, Especially after giving me leeway to give description to illness since the first round. Not to mention, It's already the fourth round. Nevertheless, I will entertain it and convey that not only does transgenderism not meet the pathological standard I proposed, But also it doesn't even meet the description you stipulated. And I will do it in part using the study you cited. According to Suicide Attempts among Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Adults, A study conducted by the Williams Institute of Law and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, There is NOT a 40% suicide rate. There's a 41% attempted suicide rate among respondents (Rodgers & Hermann, 2014, P. 2) In addition to that, The study states, "the NTDS questionnaire included only a single item about suicidal behavior that asked, 'Have you ever attempted suicide? '. . . Researchers have found that using this question alone in surveys can inflate the percentage of affirmative responses, Since some respondents may use it to communicate self-harm behavior that is not a 'suicide attempt, ' such as seriously considering suicide, Planning for suicide, Or engaging in self-harm behavior without the intent to die. "(Rodgers & Hermann, 2014, P. 3) Furthermore, And most notable, The study states that the survey they conducted "did not directly explore mental health status and history, Which have been identified as important risk factors for both attempted and completed suicide in the general population. " The study you cited does not substantiate your argument. It is a multivariate analysis which explores age, Race, Sex, Family relationships, Education, Workforce participation, Medical conditions, Disability, Etc. Incidence of suicide attempts were disparate. One would presume that if Transgenderism was controlled for as the cause for suicide (or attempted suicide) the results would be consistently reproducible. They are not according to the study you cited. " Respondents who indicated 'white' race/ethnicity had the lowest prevalence of lifetime suicide attempts at 38 percent, While American Indians and Alaska Natives reported the highest at 56 percent. "(Rodgers & Hermann, 2014, P. 6) What about this: "Generally, Those with greater educational achievement were less likely to report having attempted suicide, With 31 percent of respondents with a graduate degree, Compared to 49 percent of those with a high school diploma, Reporting a lifetime suicide attempt. "(Rodgers & Hermann, 2014, P. 6) How would you explain the substantial disparities in incidence when these factors are considered since as you claim, Transgenderism is the "mental illness" which produces the symptom of suicide? Rebuttal #3 The association of "illness" to psychological (mental) misbehavior was heavily influenced by the nineteenth century neurologist, Jean-Martin Charcot, Who aimed to prove that "hysteria" had a neuropathological basis (The Myth of Mental Illness by Thomas Szasz. ) This of course has since been discredited given the insufficiency in scientific explanations for the behavior involved with hysteria. However, There was a never a dissociation of this behavior from that which was conventionally understood as illness; instead "mental illness" became part of the psychiatric lexicon despite lacking evidence which informs pathology. There has yet to be any biochemical, Genetic or neurological basis for any "mental illness. " According to Against Biologic Chemistry, Dr. David Kaiser states, ""modern psychiatry has yet to convincingly prove the genetic/biologic cause of any single mental illness" Patients [have] been diagnosed with "chemical imbalances" despite the fact that no test exists to support such a claim, And"there is no real conception of what a correct chemical balance would look like. " That which my opponent calls "mental illness" is in fact misbehavior (disorders) which are catalogued using a classification system determined by the arbitration of members of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr Tana Dineen writes in Manufacturing Victims, "The Psychology Industry relies on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association for many of the names and labels it uses. The original 1954 version served to crystallize the nineteenth-century belief that mental illnesses were biologically based and similar to physical diseases. But unlike medical diagnoses that convey a probable cause, Appropriate treatment and likely prognosis, the disorders listed in DSM-IV are terms arrived at through peer consensus. . . " This would implicate that the diagnoses of these behaviors are not determined by pathological methods (e. G. Lab work, Identifying the pathogen, Analyzing its behavior, Etc. ) but using fallacious reasoning (i. E. argumentum ad populum. ) Medicine has always focused on the hard sciences: biochemistry, Physiology, Anatomy, Pathology, Microbiology, Etc. By allowing a soft science like psychology to invade medicine under the pseudonym, Psychiatry, Psychiatrists have been able to disguise abstract concepts as scientific findings. My opponent cannot relate transgenderism to illness because he cannot substantiate a pathological basis, Let alone any pathological basis for a mental illness. He can not even substantiate his own assertion that suicide is a symptom of transgenderism, Being contradicted by the very citation to which he alluded. On to closing arguments.