Vladimir vladimirov via getty images
No psychiatric opinion should no longer be necessary, according to HAS, to access hormonal treatments or surgery.
France – Not a revolution, but an important first step. Expected this Friday, July 18, the decision of the High Authority for Health (HAS) concerning the care of minors wishing to start a gender transition was finally postponed to the year 2026, in the“Absence of consensus” at this stage.
However, the first conclusions rendered by the HAS concerning adults allow some to see a first major advance. Which ? That of considering being transgender as a simple self -determination of the person and not as a disease. This is the very first of the 152 recommendations made by HAS this Friday in an accessible online report.
Because if the HAS does not yet respond clearly on how to take care of minors, it strongly insists, concerning adults, on the fact that transidentity should not be considered as a disease, and that it is therefore necessary to respond to any transition request, regretting in passing an offer of care “Very heterogeneous” on French territory.
“A systematic psychiatric opinion is not recommended” more “Psychological support can be provided according to the needs of the person”said Claire Compagnon, president of the HAS recommendations committee, at a press conference at the HAS headquarters in Saint-Denis this Friday. Transitional care is not “Not a comfort but a vital issue”she added.
For the context, the HAS had been seized in 2022 by the Ministry of Health to determine how the management of transitional paths must be organized, a subject on which no official health recommendation has never been given in France. But at this point, she will not respond on the most sensitive aspect: what to do when a minor asks to change his genre? “” In the absence of sufficiently robust data and consensus, the HAS chooses to approach the question of under 18s separately ”she explains in a statement, announcing that this work, probably intended to take years, will begin in early 2026.
“It had to be stated, it is”
On Instagram, the association all of women, although disappointed by the lack of position on minors at this stage, recognizes however that these recommendations finally make it possible to act ” The progressive depsychiatrization of care paths in recent years ». « During the process of more than four years which led to their publication since the referral by the Ministry of Health, the anti-right and anti-Choix influence groups have not ceased to exert pressure on this independent public authority », Note the association in passing.
Identical bell sound on the side of Anaïs Perrin-Prevelle, director of Outrans and member of the working group behind the HAS recommendations. In the columns of NEW OBSshe therefore salutes these long -awaited advances, while deeply regretting the ” terror policy “ led by opponents of the rights of trans people.
Among these other recommendations for adults, the authority recommends in particular to respond to surgery requests, giving the patient exhaustive information about the risks and the irreversible nature of the operation. It is not necessary, she insists, to give an opinion on the psychiatric state of the patient even if the doctor can recommend a period of reflection to him. “It had to be stated, it is. Things are said, things are clear, there are no necessary psychiatric care ”also welcomed Anaïs Perrin-Prevelle to AFP.