2.5 Continuing Education Credits

Friday, November 12, 2021 - Zoom Webinar 
11:15AM Welcome
11:30AM-2:00PM Presentation

Presented by: Del Sasso, PhD

Program Fee: SHWPA Member: $ 15 |  Non -SHWPA  Member: $25  |  Student: $10  
Registration Cancellations made by November 11, 2021, full fee will be refunded.
Online Registration and payment at shwpa.org OR mail a check payable to SHWPA to Virginia Walters P.O. Box 242 Oldwick, NJ 08858. Please include your email address with your check.

This program will bring participants beyond a basic understanding of gender identity to begin developing a deeper sense of gender dysphoria; the primary distress impacting the mental health and well-being of those who choose to undergo social and/or medical gender transition. It will explore the experience of dysphoria in depth, as well as the opposing experience of gender euphoria. It will then cover how these concepts can be explored with clients not only assess dysphoria clinically, but develop a targeted treatment plan. 

The presentation introduces a treatment model which is based on the interaction between distress stemming from gender-related experience (gender dysphoria, minority stress, and false-self trauma) and primary mental health conditions, if any. It provides the research basis for this model, and highlights a number of areas in which the treatment of gender dysphoria differs from much of our work, detailing how this must change our treatment considerations in the following ways: 1)The distinction between internal dysphoria and that experienced due to the impact of external/societal interaction and need for corresponding multi-systemic treatment approaches. 2)The interplay between medical and mental health treatment. 3)The critical importance (often counterintuitive) of treating gender dysphoria first, rather than focusing on primary mental health symptoms. 4)The need for constant assessment, particularly as dysphoria can mask and imitate other disorders, and false-self trauma can obscure those core aspects of self and personality that might allow for optimal diagnostic clarity.

Learning Objectives:

1. Distinguish internal and external experiences of gender dysphoria, providing one example of each, and listing two key questions to assess each. 
2. List three core ways in which assessment and treatment planning may differ when treating gender dysphoria versus more conventional diagnoses.
3. Summarize research about the outcomes of medical intervention in treating gender dysphoria in order to demonstrate the importance of appropriate and timely referral and collaboration with medical providers.

Target Audience: : Psychologists

Program Sophistication: Intermediate. Some basic knowledge of the content is required.

Conflicts of Interest and Commercial Support: Dr. Sasso does not have any commercial support and/or conflict of interest for this program.

Proprietary Information: NJPA ensures that permission to use proprietary information, and steps to safeguard such information, are discussed with presenters at NJPA co-sponsored programs. No materials (physical or electronic) provided to attendees at such programs may be shared. 

NJPA does not endorse the presented material as the only approach to a given area of study or therapeutic approach.

Americans with Disabilities Act: ADA accommodations available upon written request- by emailing Virginia Walters, Psy.D., no later than November 8, 2021 ([email protected]).

This workshop is sponsored by NJPA and SHWPA. NJPA is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. NJPA maintains responsibility for this program and its content.