Statement on the Use of the Term Re-Psychopathologization

Since the launch of our re-psychopathologization campaign, important concerns about our choice of language have been raised. At Genspect, we welcome diverse opinions and constructive criticism. 

To be clear: the term re-psychopathologization is not an accident of phrasing, nor an unfortunate choice of words. It is a deliberate and necessary response to the catastrophic decision made by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) in 2010 to “de-psychopathologize” transgender identities. That move was not rooted in scientific discovery, but in political advocacy, and it removed essential psychiatric guardrails and discouraged psychotherapeutic exploration—casting ethical therapy as “conversion therapy” while elevating untested medical interventions as the default response. The result has been fifteen years of mounting harm: vulnerable adolescents and adults placed on a conveyor belt of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and irreversible surgeries without appropriate assessment or safeguarding.

Genspect’s call to re-psychopathologize transgender identification is therefore an effort to undo the damage caused by WPATH’s de-psychopathologization. It is not a call to stigmatize or marginalize, but to restore honesty and compassion to a field of medicine that has been led astray. To describe a condition as psychopathological is not a moral judgment—it is a clinical recognition that something is wrong, and that appropriate therapeutic intervention is needed. Without such recognition, there can be no safeguarding, no prevention of harm, and no genuine care.

We recognize that terms like “pathology” may be unsettling, particularly in a political climate where rhetoric is often weaponized. Yet avoiding clear language does not serve those who are suffering. We are now in the stage of the debate where society must acknowledge, without tiptoeing or euphemism, that the belief in transgender identities as innate and healthy is a dangerous medical fiction.

To say “trans is a mental illness” is not to deny anyone’s humanity; it is to acknowledge that those consumed by this dangerous false belief deserve ethical, appropriate, and compassionate psychiatric and psychotherapeutic support—not experimental medicine that destroys healthy bodies.

Re-psychopathologization is therefore not an ideological slogan, but a necessary course correction. By naming the problem clearly, we can begin to rebuild the guardrails, restore psychotherapy as the first line of care, and prevent another generation from being swept into irreversible harm.

Genspect believes truth, compassion, and clarity must guide us. That requires the courage to use accurate language. The time for ambiguity has passed.