Editing Conversion therapy (section)

=== Gender exploratory therapy ===
{{About|a conversion practice which delays access to gender-affirming care|[[client-centered therapy]] aimed at neutral identity exploration|Transgender health care#Identity exploration|section=yes}}

'''Gender exploratory therapy''' ('''GET''') is a form of conversion therapy characterized by requiring mandatory extended talk therapy attempting to find pathological roots for [[gender dysphoria]] while simultaneously delaying social and medical transition and viewing it as a last resort.<ref name="ashley_202209" /><ref name="WPATH-NHS">{{Cite web |date=November 25, 2022 |title=WPATH, ASIAPATH, EPATH, PATHA, and USPATH Response to NHS England in the United Kingdom (UK) |url=https://www.wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/Public%20Policies/2022/25.11.22%20AUSPATH%20Statement%20reworked%20for%20WPATH%20Final%20ASIAPATH.EPATH.PATHA.USPATH.pdf?_t=1669428978 |website=[[WPATH]] |access-date=2 January 2024 |archive-date=30 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130183416/https://www.wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/Public%20Policies/2022/25.11.22%20AUSPATH%20Statement%20reworked%20for%20WPATH%20Final%20ASIAPATH.EPATH.PATHA.USPATH.pdf?_t=1669428978 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Bharat">{{Cite journal |last1=Bharat |first1=Bharat |last2=Dopp |first2=Alex |last3=Last |first3=Briana |last4=Howell |first4=Gary |last5=Nadeem |first5=Erum |last6=Johnson |first6=Clara |last7=Stirman |first7=Shannon Wiltsey |title=OSF |url=https://osf.io/gz5mk/ |journal=The Behavior Therapist |publisher=Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies |publication-date=October 2023 |volume=46 |issue=7 |pages=261–270 |doi=10.31234/osf.io/gz5mk |pmid=39713211 |access-date=1 January 2024 |archive-date=24 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240924070611/https://osf.io/gz5mk/ |url-status=live |pmc=11661860 }}</ref><ref name="Lawson">{{Cite journal |last1=Lawson |first1=Zazie |last2=Davies |first2=Skye |last3=Harmon |first3=Shae |last4=Williams |first4=Matthew |last5=Billawa |first5=Shradha |last6=Holmes |first6=Ryan |last7=Huckridge |first7=Jaymie |last8=Kelly |first8=Phillip |last9=MacIntyre-Harrison |first9=Jess |last10=Neill |first10=Stewart |last11=Song-Chase |first11=Angela |last12=Ward |first12=Hannah |last13=Yates |first13=Michael |date=October 2023 |title=A human rights based approach to transgender and gender expansive health |url=https://explore.bps.org.uk/lookup/doi/10.53841/bpscpf.2023.1.369.91 |journal=Clinical Psychology Forum |language=en |volume=1 |issue=369 |pages=91–106 |doi=10.53841/bpscpf.2023.1.369.91 |issn=1747-5732 |s2cid=265086908 |access-date=1 January 2024 |archive-date=24 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240924070719/https://explore.bps.org.uk/content/bpscpf/1/369/91 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Amery">{{Cite journal |last=Amery |first=Fran |date=2023-12-11 |title=Protecting Children in 'Gender Critical' Rhetoric and Strategy: Regulating Childhood for Cisgender Outcomes |url=https://www.digest.ugent.be/article/id/85309/ |journal=DiGeSt - Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies |volume=10 |issue=2 |doi=10.21825/digest.85309 |issn=2593-0281 |doi-access=free |access-date=1 January 2024 |archive-date=24 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240924070616/https://www.digest.ugent.be/article/id/85309/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Caraballo">{{Cite journal |last=Caraballo |first=Alejandra |date=December 2022 |title=The Anti-Transgender Medical Expert Industry |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-law-medicine-and-ethics/article/antitransgender-medical-expert-industry/25EFFECB8F71CA9A37F9F089E13BC41E |journal=Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics |language=en |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=687–692 |doi=10.1017/jme.2023.9 |issn=1073-1105 |pmid=36883410 |access-date=1 January 2024 |archive-date=1 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301135428/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-law-medicine-and-ethics/article/antitransgender-medical-expert-industry/25EFFECB8F71CA9A37F9F089E13BC41E |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="MacKinnon">{{Cite journal |last1=MacKinnon |first1=Kinnon R. |last2=Gould |first2=Wren Ariel |last3=Enxuga |first3=Gabriel |last4=Kia |first4=Hannah |last5=Abramovich |first5=Alex |last6=Lam |first6=June S. H. |last7=Ross |first7=Lori E. |date=2023-11-29 |title=Exploring the gender care experiences and perspectives of individuals who discontinued their transition or detransitioned in Canada |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=18 |issue=11 |article-number=e0293868 |bibcode=2023PLoSO..1893868M |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0293868 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=10686467 |pmid=38019738 |doi-access=free}}</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|reason=7 sources are not needed for this statement, there are plenty of MEDRS sources that sufficiently establish it|date=October 2025}} Practitioners propose that their patients' dysphoria is caused by factors such as homophobia, social contagion, sexual trauma, and [[autism]].<ref name="Lawson" /><ref name="Caraballo" /> Some practitioners avoid using their patients' chosen names and pronouns while questioning their identification.<ref name="MacKinnon" /> Commenting on GET in 2022, bioethicist [[Florence Ashley]] argued that its framing as an undirected exploration of underlying psychological issues bore similarities to conversion practices, such as "[[Conversion therapy#Reparative therapy|reparative]]" therapy.<ref name="ashley_202209" /> States that have [[Legal status of gender-affirming healthcare|banned gender-affirming care for minors]] in the United States have called expert witnesses to argue that exploratory therapy should be the alternative treatment.<ref name="Pauly">{{Cite news |last1=Pauly |first1=Madison |last2=Carnell |first2=Henry |date=July 2024 |title=First they tried to "cure" gayness. Now they're fixated on "healing" trans people. |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/05/conversion-therapy-lgbtq-anti-trans-gay-gender-affirming-care/ |access-date=2024-06-05 |work=Mother Jones |language=en-US}}</ref>

{{as of|2023}}, there are no known empirical studies examining psychosocial or medical outcomes following gender exploratory therapy.<ref name="MacKinnon" /><ref name="Leising">{{Cite journal |last=Leising |first=Julie |date=September 2022 |title=Gender-affirming care for youth—separating evidence from controversy |url=https://bcmj.org/sites/default/files/BCMJ_Vol64_No7-premise-corrected%20%28ID%202375120%29.pdf |journal=Bc Medic al Journal |volume=64 |issue=7}}</ref> Concerns have been raised that by not providing an estimated length of time for the therapy, the delays in medical interventions may compound mental suffering in transgender youth,<ref name="Lawson" /><ref name="MacKinnon" /> while the [[gender-affirming care]] model already promotes gender identity exploration—without favoring any particular identity—and individualized care.<ref name="MacKinnon" /> GET proponents deny this.<ref name="Santoro">{{Cite news |last=Santoro |first=Helen |date=2023-05-02 |title=How Therapists Are Trying to Convince Children That They're Not Actually Trans |url=https://slate.com/technology/2023/05/gender-exploratory-therapy-trans-kids-what-is-it.html |access-date=2024-01-01 |work=Slate |language=en-US |issn=1091-2339 |archive-date=21 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240121062936/https://slate.com/technology/2023/05/gender-exploratory-therapy-trans-kids-what-is-it.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2017, [[Richard Green (sexologist)|Richard Green]] published a legal strategy that called for circumventing bans on conversion therapy by labelling the practice "gender identity exploration or development".<ref name="Eckert">{{Cite news |last=Eckert |first=A. J. |date=2022-10-22 |title=Cutting through the Lies and Misinterpretations about the Updated Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People |url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/cutting-through-the-lies-and-misinterpretations-about-the-updated-standards-of-care-for-the-health-of-transgender-and-gender-diverse-people/ |access-date=2024-12-22 |language=en-US |publisher=Science-Based Medicine}}</ref><ref name="Green-2017">{{Cite journal |last=Green |first=Richard |year=2017 |title=Banning Therapy to Change Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity in Patients Under 18 |journal=The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=7–11 |issn=1943-3662 |pmid=28270456}}</ref> Multiple groups now exist worldwide to promote gender exploratory therapy and have been successful in influencing legal discussions and clinical guidance in some regions.<ref name="Amery" /> The [[Gender Exploratory Therapy Association]] (GETA) asserts that "psychological approaches should be the first-line treatment for all cases of gender dysphoria", that medical interventions for transgender youth are "experimental and should be avoided if possible", and that [[social transitioning]] is "risky".<ref name="Santoro" /> All of GETA's leaders are members of [[Genspect]], a "[[gender-critical]]" group that promotes GET and argues that gender-affirming care should not be available to those under 25.<ref name="Santoro" /> In late 2023, GETA changed its name to "Therapy First".<ref name="Pauly" />

GETA also shares a large overlap with the [[Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine]] (SEGM), which promotes GET as first-line treatment for those under 25.<ref name="splc-defining-pseudoscience">{{Cite web |title=Group dynamics and division of labor within the anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience network |url=https://www.splcenter.org/captain/defining-pseudoscience-network |access-date=2024-01-01 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |date=12 December 2023 |language=en}}</ref> GETA co-founder Lisa Marchiano stated [[US President Joe Biden]]'s executive order safeguarding trans youth from conversion therapy would have a "chilling effect" on GET practices.<ref name="Santoro" /><ref name="Reed">{{Cite news |last=Reed |first=Erin |date=2023-01-13 |title=Unpacking 'gender exploratory therapy,' a new form of conversion therapy |url=https://xtramagazine.com/health/gender-exploratory-therapy-243833 |access-date=2024-01-01 |work=Xtra Magazine |language=en-CA}}</ref> GETA also opposed Biden's Title IX changes protecting trans students from discrimination, stating allowing trans youth in restrooms would harm the mental health of their peers.<ref name="Reed" /> The [[American College of Pediatricians]],<ref group="Note">Not to be confused with the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]].</ref> a small group aligned with the [[Christian Right]], has cited numerous studies from SEGM to support the claim that 'gender exploratory therapy' is necessary to restore transgender people's "biological integrity".<ref name="splc-defining-pseudoscience" />