Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Trans Psychoanalysis and the High Court. |
| Authors: |
Colston, Alex (AUTHOR) |
| Source: |
Psychoanalytic Inquiry. Nov/Dec2025, Vol. 45 Issue 10, p950-958. 9p. |
| Subjects: |
Puberty blockers, Gender affirming care, Lacan, Jacques, 1901-1981, Psychoanalysis, Informed consent (Law), Legal judgments, Great Britain. National Health Service, Great Britain. High Court of Justice |
| Geographic Terms: |
United Kingdom |
| Abstract: |
In 2020, Britain's High Court passed a landmark ruling stating that persons under the age of 16 could not provide informed consent to receive puberty blocker treatment. This historically marked the resurgence of a long-standing and arduous struggle between trans-affirming organizations in the UK and the state. The clinical aspect of this political struggle played out at Tavistock and Portman, a foundation trust of the NHS that has long provided mental health services and gender-affirming care. In this article, by analyzing the medical concept of "Gillick competence," I criticize the normative clinical and political reasons pressed into service in the lawsuit and in the institutional denial of gender- and trans-affirming psychotherapeutic care. I draw upon the work of Jacques Lacan, Jules Gill-Peterson, Paul Verhaeghe, Patricia Gherovici, and the late Mari Ruti to offer a different conception of psychoanalytic practice, one more avowedly friendly to trans desire. When practiced with sufficient theoretical rigor and playful open-endedness, I contend that psychoanalysis is a practice uniquely situated for learning to listen to and countenance trans desire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
|
Copyright of Psychoanalytic Inquiry is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
| Database: |
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
