ABSTRACT

Drawing from the existing literature on minority stress and stigma, this article highlights challenges – psychological, social, and interpersonal – confronting transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals in relation to their gender identity and expression. TGNC individuals are at risk for poor health due to societal stigma and stressors they face as a gender minority group. Further, TGNC individuals may experience stigma in different shapes and forms; specifically, stigma may occur as enacted, felt, internalized, and anticipated stigma. In maintaining an identity that is socially devalued but often invisible to others, TGNC individuals confront additional challenges in negotiating the risks and benefits of disclosing their stigmatized identity. Affirmative group therapy is proposed as a strength-based and social justice–oriented approach for demarginalizing TGNC individuals’ stigmatized identity. Group therapists are called on to address how forms of stigma impact TGNC individuals within and outside of the group, provide validation and space for practicing disclosure, highlight their strengths and resilience, and serve as social justice advocates.

 抽象的

本文借鉴有关少数群体压力和耻辱的现有文献，强调了跨性别者和性别不合格 (TGNC) 个体在性别认同和表达方面面临的挑战——心理、社会和人际。 TGNC 个体由于作为性别少数群体面临的社会耻辱和压力而面临健康状况不佳的风险。此外，TGNC 个体可能会经历不同形状和形式的耻辱；具体而言，耻辱可能表现为已形成的、感受到的、内化的和预期的耻辱。在维持一种在社会上被贬低但往往对其他人来说是看不见的身份的过程中，TGNC 个人在协商披露其污名化身份的风险和收益时面临着额外的挑战。平权团体治疗被认为是一种以力量为基础、以社会正义为导向的方法，用于消除 TGNC 个体的污名化身份。团体治疗师被要求解决各种形式的耻辱如何影响团体内外的 TGNC 个人，为实践披露提供验证和空间，强调他们的优势和适应力，并充当社会正义的倡导者。