The psychological distress and coping mechanisms among intersexed individuals

• Main Author: Mohamed Saleh Baqutayan, Shadiya
• Format: Article
• Published: Sciencedomain International 2014
• Subjects: BF Psychology; T Technology (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/60002/; http://dx.doi.org/10.9734/ARRB/2014/9322
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Mental and physical wellbeing always determine the individuals’ ability to live meaningful and satisfying lives. Based on this fact we can declare that the birth of the intersexed/hermaphrodite child presents great clinical difficulties, psychological distress, and ethical issues for the clients and their families. As a matter of fact, the basic problem that intersexed individual faces is the socio-cultural perception; the society always reject this group of people without clear understanding of what the hermaphrodite is all about. As a result, the person’s emotions and feelings are all disturbed. Thus the aim of this paper is to report on the psychological distress and coping mechanisms among hermaphrodite individuals. In attempting to this debate the emphasis is more on the literature that focuses on the current status of intersexed group, their emotions, and the ways they manage the trauma associated with their feelings. Eventually, the results indicated that people with intersex conditions are mostly a hidden population, and little is known about their level of stress and coping mechanisms. For that reason further research is needed to overcome this barrier regarding the emotional well-being of intersex patients and families. Congruently, researchers and psychologists need to assist more cases, discuss with more families, manage the feelings of this group of people, and finally, cultivate a public education program to adjust the perception of different societies towards this issue.