What mental health supports do people with intersex variations want, and when? Person-centred trauma-informed life-cycle care

Several large-scale surveys around the world show the most frequently reported mental health diagnoses among people with intersex variations include depression, anxiety and PTSD. Wellbeing risks are also high, with individuals with intersex variations citing suicidal thoughts or attempts across their life-course – specifically on the basis of issues related to having congenital sex variations. The population mostly attributed their wellbeing risks to negative social responses from others, difficulties around having undergone interventions or issues around gender/identity. In the Canadian context, there is a lack of formalized, charitable Canadian wide intersex networks, advocacy groups, universal mental health care approaches, or provincial signposting to services similar to those developed elsewhere. Using a life-cycle lens, a group of international researchers came together in a collaborative Canadian study to explore health care transitions that people with intersex variations might need or desire, at various stages of their life. A key finding highlights that transition phases have the capacity to be especially difficult in the context of mental health. Three themes in the data identified mental health impacts: worthlessness, alienation and self-esteem. However a final theme drew on integrated medicine to celebrate emerging emotional intelligence; a positive experience that had emancipatory benefits across the lifespan.