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AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

CONCLUSIONS AND SUMMARY

Let me leave you and my highly incomplete presentation with these conclusions:

Transvestism and transsexualism are symptoms that may have a great variety of causes. A constitutional predisposition is essen- tial; then comes adverse psychological conditioning followed by the respective syndromes. The intensity of these two causative factors and their interplay determine the character of the final clinical picture (which may range from mere effeminacy of an otherwise normal man to deep-seated exclusive homosexuality and transsex- ualism.

Transvestism may be successfully handled by psychotherapy if the patient desires a cure. Otherwise it can only be treated by treating society and our legal statutes with their interpretations.

Transsexualism is inaccessible to any curative methods at pres- ent at our disposal. Nevertheless the condition requires psychiatric help, reinforced by hormone treatment and, in some cases, by sur- gery. In this way a reasonably contented existence may be worked out for these patients.

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