I AM WHATEVER I CHOOSE TO BE: THAT IS DELUSIONAL

I AM WHATEVER I CHOOSE TO BE: THAT IS DELUSIONAL

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

You ask most pre teens or teenagers what they expect to have happen in their future and they tell you with an air of certainty, it is not what they want to happen but what is going to happen. These young people believe they can choose their future and “presto” it will happen.

This is understandable considering most have only to tell their parents what they demand and they receive it. “When I am 16 years old you will get me a new red V-8 Corvette.” There is no bargaining or pleading with their parents. These entitlement youngsters have been programmed to instantly choose and be granted whatever they want.

In the recent past people often talked about being a millionaire before they were 40 years old and expected to own their own upscale home. Many hoped to be a famous singer, doctor, politician or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. These were dreams that motivated people to strive to do the exceptional.  They realize that these high expectations might never occur but they would give it their best shot.

On the road to their dreams many individuals did not want to pay the price to reach their objective. Many had moral values that held them back. Others changed their goals when they realized they felt more fulfilled doing something more suited to them. Most learned one’s path going through life was not a smooth, straight super highway but a twisting, turning and at times bumpy one. Reality still had a place in their heads.

Our present generation has been shielded from the harsh realities of life. Our youngsters have not directly sacrificed during our Middle East conflicts, deadly plagues or economic disasters. They live in an affluent bubble. Whatever they materially want after sufficiently nagging their parents, they get.

This certitude of expectations has now moved into another realm. It has moved from possessions and work to ones appearance and being. With the current modern science, growth, emotional hormones and cosmetic surgery has given the younger generations and their parents the belief that they can alter their being to be someone else. They can change their facial features, breast size, weight or height through surgery and drugs. They can instantly change their mental or emotional state by readily available prescriptions.

Currently children as young as three years old are insisting (through their parent’s advocacy) to change their gender. These parents believe the earlier the reassignment surgery, the less trauma the child will suffer in the transition from one gender to another. There is no scientific evidence to support this idea and plenty to oppose it.

Regardless of the success of the anatomical and hormonal change, it is impossible to predict how the child will feel about this artificial transition any time in the lifecycle. According to a 2008 study in The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, “most children with gender dysphoria (a mental disorder) will not remain gender dysphoric after puberty.”

There is no scientific or logical reason that prepubescent children should be allowed to suffer through this ordeal. Dr. Paul McHugh, former head of John Hopkins Psychiatry department viewed reassignment surgery as abuse. “We have a very radical and even mutilating treatment being offered to children without any evidence that the long term outcomes of it would be good.” John Hopkins Hospital has ended its transgender procedures. After reassignment surgery many people quickly return to a dysphoria mood remaining severely depressed and even suicidal.

Fifteen year-old students are not able to comprehend long-term consequences yet certain schools in Oregon are going to provide free reassignment surgery without any need for parental notification or approval.  Besides usurping parental rights it is beyond the scope of education and good health practices. These youngsters need significant and long-term mental health therapy not an extreme fanatical operation that would only add to confusion and pain to a mentally disordered youngster.

These youngsters will always know they were born one gender and were changed to another. The DNA will always remain the same substantiating the reality of what gender they were born.

We can choose to do many delusional things in our lives. The reality is that there are many things we cannot do. We cannot go back in time, pick a different family to be born into, stop all evil or dictate our future.

Not accepting the hand we are dealt is a recipe for internal conflict leading to a mental break from reality. These youngsters will face more, not fewer issues dealing with the reaction of others. They will always be freaks in the minds of many.

Delusional states have never been a means to happiness and mental stability.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.