Rapid physical, psychological and sexual changes in adolescents due
to the developmental process differentiate the approach to adolescents
with gender dysphoria (GD) from the approach to adults. In this article,
two adolescents who applied for GD and followed up for a long time are
presented. The first case was assigned male at birth and defined herself as
female. At the age of fifteen, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog
was started for puberty suppression, and sex hormone was started in
the follow-up. The second case’s assigned sex was female and defined
himself as male. At the age of sixteen years and six months, puberty
suppressive treatment was started, followed by sex hormones. Both
cases were able to continue their psychosocial development without
any problems after the psychiatric and physical treatments they could
reach on time. Although GD in adolescents cannot be resolved with
puberty suppression alone, it creates time to resolve the acute problems
and to search for appropriate treatment approaches in the future.
Puberty suppression partially relieves and prevents the exacerbation of
the dysphoria experienced by the youth diagnosed as GD, and creates
time to search appropriate treatment approaches in the follow-up.
Through these two cases, it is aimed to introduce the gender affirmation
processes of adolescents with GD, to discuss the medical interventions
in adolescence and the psychosocial effects of the process on individuals.
Keywords: Gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, adolescence,
gender affirmation process, puberty supression, puberty blockers