Psychiatric morbidity among adult transgender people in Iran

Psychiatric morbidity among transgender and gender diverse people is thought to be to an important extent related to socio-cultural intolerance, but such morbidity has been understudied in non-western socio-political contexts. This study aims to report the psychiatric profiles of clients who are seeking gender-affirming treatment in a gender clinic in Iran. All transgender people who were consecutively referred to the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in Mashhad, Iran, between February 2015 and December 2016 were investigated. Clients were evaluated during at least four sessions when sociodemographic and psychiatric characteristics were collected. Out of 209 clients, 205 were included (transmen (TM), N = 110; transwomen (TW) N = 95). A subset of these were assessed using Structured Clinical Interview based for DSM-5 (n = 154). The mean age of participants was 24.41 (SD = 6.316; range, 15-43). There was no significant difference between transmen and transwomen (p = 0.960); 48% (80 out of 154) of participants were found to have at least one current psychiatric condition currently, and 67% (138 out of 205) during their lifetime. Depressive and trauma- and stressor-related disorders were the most common conditions. Prevalence rates were similar in both genders. In both TM and TW groups, as many as 70% of the clients reported that they had experienced suicidal ideation. These findings are surprisingly similar to those of western studies despite the more extreme difficulties Iranian transgender people face in their lives in a non-western socio-political context.