Journal 15.2 - Faculty Case Conference (PDF)

EMOTIONAL PROCESS WHEN A SPOUSE CHANGES GENDER

Laura R. Brooks, MSW

What is the emotional process in a marriage when one of the spouses transitions to the other gender? Is the process unique? Is a spouse’s decision to transition to the other gender a symptom, an adaptation, or an effort to define self? In this family, the adaptive patterns in the marriage were apparent since the couple’s courtship and persist throughout the transition of the husband to the female gender. After years of opting for harmony by going along with her husband, the wife uses the crisis to define herself more clearly in the relationship.