Lived Experiences of Male-to-Female Transgender Persons: A Phenomenological Study in Iran

Gender dysphoria or being transgender is a state of psychological distress and suffering associated with a strong identification with the biologically opposite sex. This qualitative study with phenomenological approach was conducted to explore the experience of male to female (MTF) transgenders in Iran. Participants included eight MTF transgenders before sex reassignment surgery. They had been referred by the forensic medicine organization to the psychotherapy department of an academic hospital for further evaluation. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted between October 2021 and September 2022. The interviews were conducted in the psychotherapy department of a psychiatric hospital in the north of Iran. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and a thematic analysis was conducted by the researchers. Eight main themes emerged including “Fear of a different world”, “Invalidating gender dysphoria”, “Concealment”, “Suffering”, “Rejection”, “Acceptance”, “Being seen as feminine” and “Love loss”. In thematic analysis, codes with content similarity were placed in a theme. There were eighteen codes that were extracted from this study. Trans people suffered from many sufferings, including invalidating their feelings and not being accepted by their families, and the presence of an expert helped them to be more easily accepted by their families and cope better with their own feelings and conditions.