You Must Be Some Kind of Therapist

British psychoanalyst Marcus and his wife Susan were among the first whistleblowers at the Tavistock Centre’s Gender Identity Development Service program. Together, Marcus and Susan wrote the book Gender Dysphoria: A Therapeutic Model for Working with Children, Adolescents and Young Adults.

Show Notes

British psychoanalyst Marcus and his wife Susan were among the first whistleblowers at the Tavistock Centre’s Gender Identity Development Service program. Together, Marcus and Susan wrote the book Gender Dysphoria: A Therapeutic Model for Working with Children, Adolescents and Young Adults. 

On July 28, 2022 - between this episode’s recording on June 13, and its release on September 5 - the Tavistock GIDS center was ordered to close by Spring 2023. This news came in the wake of the findings of the Cass Review, in which Dr. Hilary Cass systematically evaluated the clinic’s treatment protocols and found them unsafe. Marcus and Susan are part of the reason that Dr. Cass began her review.

In this conversation, Marcus and I discuss the Tavistock’s long history of ignoring these alarms that have finally reached a turning point. We discuss appropriate, evidence-based, non-invasive approaches to treating gender-related distress, and how these compare with the politicized, experimental, invasive, practices that have become the norm. Marcus expresses his concerns about crucial lacks: of checks and balances, follow-up, honest conversations about suicide risk, and data on long-term outcomes. And we explore concepts from psychodynamic theory, such as the role that projective identification and the splitting off of cognitive dissonance play in power struggles between adolescents and the adults who care for them.

Marcus Evans is a British psychoanalyst, author, and one of the first whistleblowers at the Tavistock GIDS clinic. Before retiring from the NHS, he was first a psychiatric nurse and then an adult psychotherapist in the NHS for 40 years. Marcus has a particular interest in the application of psychoanalytic thinking in mental health settings. He was a founding member of the Fitzjohn’s service for the treatment of patients with severe and enduring mental health issues and personality disorders, and a clinical lead in the adult and adolescent services for five years. He is the author of three books: Making Room for Madness in Mental Health; Psychoanalytic Thinking in Mental Health Settings; and Gender Dysphoria: A Therapeutic Model for Working with Children, Adolescents and Young Adults, which he wrote in conjunction with his wife Susan Evans.

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Creators and Guests

Host
Stephanie Winn
LMFT, writer, host of @some_therapist. 🦎advocacy, healing & justice. See 📌

What is You Must Be Some Kind of Therapist?

A podcast at the intersection of psychology and culture that intimately explores the human experience and critiques the counseling profession. Your host, Stephanie Winn, distills wisdom gained from her practice as a family therapist and coach while pivoting towards questions of how to apply a practical understanding of psychology to the novel dilemmas of the 21st century, from political polarization to medical malpractice.

What does ethical mental health care look like in a normless age, as our moral compasses spin in search of true north? How can therapists treat patients under pressure to affirm everything from the notion of "gender identity" to assisted suicide?

Primarily a long-form interview podcast, Stephanie invites unorthodox, free-thinking guests from many walks of life, including counselors, social workers, medical professionals, writers, researchers, and people with unique lived experience, such as detransitioners.

Curious about many things, Stephanie’s interdisciplinary psychological lens investigates challenging social issues and inspires transformation in the self, relationships, and society. She is known for bringing calm warmth to painful subjects, and astute perceptiveness to ethically complex issues. Pick up a torch to illuminate the dark night and join us on this journey through the inner wilderness.

You Must Be Some Kind of Therapist ranks in the top 1% globally according to ListenNotes. New episodes are released every Monday. Three and a half years after the show's inception in May of 2022, Stephanie became a Christian, representing the crystallization of moral, spiritual, and existential views she had been openly grappling with along with her audience and guests. Newer episodes (#188 forward) may sometimes reflect a Christian understanding, interwoven with and applied to the same issues the podcast has always addressed. The podcast remains diverse and continues to feature guests from all viewpoints.