Equality and Human Rights Commission

Medical treatment to enable transsexual people to alter their bodies to match their gender identity is highly successful and has been available through the NHS for several decades. The medical process is known as ‘gender reassignment’.

Feeling discord like this is recognised as a medical condition. This is why treatment is provided on the NHS. It is not regarded as a mental illness. However, mental health professionals are often involved in supporting trans people through gender reassignment because of the enormity of such a change for the individual, and the stresses that can be caused by the negative behaviours of other people.

The wider social process of beginning to permanently change one’s gender role is called ‘transition’.

As the medical process requires people to live in their desired gender role for a period of 1-2 years before receiving any gender reassignment surgeries (a so-called ‘Real Life Experience’ or ‘RLE’) the beginning of transition is generally the first time that anyone will know about the process taking place.