Being trans is a mental illness like anorexia
Andrew Gold said:
“Is there any better example than feeling, even if they're right to feel this way, than feeling like there is something wrong with your body when there isn't.”
The argument sounds medically grounded: if a condition involves a perceived mismatch between body and mind, and that perception is not shared by outside observers, it fits a common lay understanding of mental illness. The anorexia parallel is one many people find intuitive.
The anorexia comparison sounds intuitive, but it rests on a category error. Anorexia involves a distorted perception of a measurable physical fact: a person who is dangerously underweight sees themselves as overweight, and that distortion drives life-threatening behaviour. Gender identity is not a misreading of an objective physical fact in the same way. The World Health Organisation recognised this clearly enough to reclassify gender incongruence out of the mental disorders chapter entirely, placing it instead under conditions related to sexual health. When trans identity is treated as pathology, distress rises; when it is affirmed, distress falls. That is not what happens with a delusion you correct. The people who pay for this framing are trans people who are told the problem is in their minds when it is in the world around them, and who face stigma, delayed care, and real harm as a result.
What I said at the time:
“Being transgender is most definitely not a mental illness. Whereas having anorexia, which is an incredibly sad thing, incredibly sad thing, is a mental illness. And that's the difference.”
Trans people of all ages, who face stigma, delayed care, and increased risk of self-harm when their identity is framed as a psychiatric disorder requiring correction rather than affirmation.