Nouvelles normalités Nouvelles pathologies Nouvelles ... - Psynem

6° 6éme Congresso Congrès Européen Europeo de di Psicopatologia Psychopathologie dell’Infanzia de l’Enfance e et dell’Adolescenza
de l’Adolescence
Nuove Nouvelles normalità normalités Nuove Nouvelles patologie pathologies Nuove pratiche Nouvelles pratiques
FRIDAY, May 6 POSTER SESSIONS
Poster session 6 Interventions in different situations.
Gli adolescenti problematici e la loro presa in carico
6 - A DIAGNOSIS OF INTERSEXUALITY IN ADOLESCENCE:
TREATMENT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL OUTCOMES
Paola Miano, Maria Garro, Rosalia Sutera Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Palermo, (Palermo - IT)
Intersexuality is a condition that demolishes the
binary male/female differentiation; it concerns
different kinds of atypicalness in chromosomal,
gonadic and anatomic sexual development that
are diagnosed as Disorders of Sex Development
(DSD). Intersexuality conditions in which genitalia
have a typical feminine or masculine aspect are
not usually revealed at birth in accordance with
external genitalia, whilst in adolescence symptoms
such as amenorrhea, immature secondary
sexual characteristics or sterility appear. Heterogeneity
of intersexual conditions and scarce
availability of research data might explain contrasting
theories underlining contradictory elements;
recent research has been investigating
psychological and sexual outcomes in relation to
different pharmacological and/ or surgical treat-
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ments, underlining how important it is to assign
a sex to the newborn and stressing that surgical
treatment of external and internal genitalia should
be postponed and preferably avoided until adolescence
or early adulthood.
Subjects’ reports on diagnosis and treatment
reveal that the reaction to intersexuality of a subject
with of a subject with DSD, and his/her family,
is influenced by gender models, gender stereotyping
and the desire to have one’s external
genitalia conform to the assigned sex; moreover
family relationships and formal and informal
groups seem to have a significant role in
accepting symptoms caused by intersexual conditions
and increase resilience and adaptive coping
strategies.