OII received an e-mail from someone who contacted Dr. Kenneth J. Zucker to ask Zucker about a statement of his on the documentary Changing Sexes: Male to Female which appeared on the program Discovery in November 2002. In this documentary Dr. Keneth J. Zucker claimed that when “one engages in psychotherapy” with gender dysphoric children and adolescents, that they may come to an alternative to the conclusion that “the only way I can feel good about myself” is through sex reassignment surgery. Considering that Dr. Zucker believes:


we thought that we would share Dr. Zucker’s e-mail response to the inquiry of what he meant by his statements in the filmed documentary.

In a messsage dated February 25, 2003 at 5:20:56 pm EST
Ken_Zucker@camh.net wrote :

Dear XXXX (name omitted to protect recipient of Dr. Zucker’s e-mail),

I did that interview last August and I did not actually see it on television, so I don’t know what quote you are exactly referring to.

In any case, I would say the following :

  • 1.First, I don’t think psychotherapy for adult patients with GID is referred to in the literature as reparative therapy. It is just therapy.

  • 2.It is known that for some adults with gender dysphroia the desire for sex change can wax and wane and sometimes this is in relation to therapeuetic involvement. The same holds for adolescents.

  • 3.See the paper by Marks and Green, which was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry a year or two ago.

Best Regards,
Ken Zucker, Ph.D., C.Psych.
Psychologist-in-Chief, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health


The only paper on the subject within the time frame is entitled "Adult Gender Identity Disorder Can Remit". It is in Comprehensive Psychiatry, 2000 Vol. 41, pages 273-275. One patient with GID had a 4-year absence of “gender dypshoria and sexual attraction to males despite the fact that no treatment was directed at those conditions...The GID reappeared after a dormant period of 4 years...” The authors reported on 4 more m to f patients (Cases 1, 2, 3 and 4). Case one had had a remission for 4 years during a relationship with a post-operative m to f transsexual; case 2 had a remission during each of three heterosexual relationships; case 3 had a remission during each of two pregnancies of their female partner; and case 4, a six year remission during caring for ill, aged parents. The authors note, “These patients were not on psychotropic medication or in psychotherapy.”  Three other cases not unlike those of cases 1, 2 and 4 were referenced. The authors further wrote, “Some reports described transsexual patients who improved, sometimes even without treatment.” Other cases which co-existed with other psychopathologies, such as schizophrenia, mania, or paraphilias were noted to remit in response to medication. One apparent cure was referenced in response to treatment by two sessions of an exorcism. One patient was noted to have responded with marked improvement in gender role and identity to inpatient behavior therapy. Two studies are referenced, one where adjustment to psychological treatments were reviewed, and another in which response to individual or group therapy, nonsurgical status was accepted in the majority of cases. Three cases of behavior therapy treatment were known to be correlated with changes of gender identity, “but the subjects’ sexual arousal, remained directed to same sex partners”.   
 
          Thus the article and literature review shows a remission of gender dysphoria, which can occur with OR WITHOUT treatment, that the treatment may be with psychotherapy, medication, or exorcism; that remission of GID is not uncommonly associated with psychopathology (and co-remission of such), and that GID not uncommonly re-occurs after such a remission.

           How does this e-mail by Zucker relate to his statement on Disovery documentary in regards to children with gender dysphoria? Zucker’s e-mail response does not directly address this. Zucker’s reference to Mark’s and Green’s work contains references in which virtually all references are about NON-children with GID. Furthermore, Zucker refers to “wax and wane” when referring to the desire for a sex change in adults and adolescents. Although he was asked about his statements on the Discovery documentary which was about CHILDREN and adolescents, he did not respond to this, in that he provided virtually no references which would address his provocative statement about gender dysphoria in CHILDREN and he did not directly respond to this inquiry about his statement on the documentary. In fact, he omitted it altogether in his e-mail response.  We at OII will be using this e-mail, as a small example of one of the many complaints we will be filing against Kenneth J. Zucker with several organizations.

         “When psychologists provide public advice or comment via print, internet, or other electronic transmission, they take precautions to ensure that statements (1) are based on their professional knowledge, training, or experience in accord with appropriate psychological literature and practice;” (From APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, 2002, Washington, D.C.)

          Dr. Zucker’s e-mail response as well as his documentary statements, we believe, fall far short of these APA ethical guidelines, and we suggest that his statements about the efficacy of psychotherapy with children who are gender dysphoric and/or who have a GID of childhood, are not only inappropriate according to the psychological literature and practice, but are indeed baseless and suggest that this is why Dr. Zucker responded in his e-mail as he did.


Dr. Kenneth J. Zucker e-mail fails to address his statements concerning therapy for "gender dysphoric" children