Diagnosing Benjamin's Syndrome

Benjamin's Syndrome is not easy to diagnose. Though it is highly probable that there are biological indications for the syndrome, current medical technology isn't sophisticated enough to detect them. Autopsies carried out on people with Benjamin's Syndrome have suggested that they do exist, and genes that may be responsible for some cases have recently been discovered, but gender is a very poorly understood thing and we are a long way from being able to carry out reliable medical tests for the syndrome. But even if such tests were possible, they would not be very useful. There may be multiple causes for the syndrome, so testing for a single cause would be far from conclusive, and the appropriate treatment for any given individual depends much more upon their own feelings than on anything physical.

So, it is generally up to the sufferer to diagnose their condition for themselves. Psychiatrists and counsellors can sometimes help, but the person with Benjamin's Syndrome has to realise that they have a problem and something needs to be done about it. That something is wrong is usually clear from a young age; many if not most children with Benjamin's Syndrome feel different from other children, and uncomfortable with people's expectations of them. They may also be unhappy with their bodies, especially when puberty begins. But that doesn't automatically translate into an understanding that they're not really of the gender that they've always been told they belong to. Gender has such a fundamental importance to human society that the possibility of being so wrong about it can be literally unthinkable, especially when the concept is kept hidden and not talked about. While some people with Benjamin's Syndrome do know who they are for virtually all their lives, many do not figure it out until in their teens, twenties, or even older.

It does not help that Benjamin's Syndrome has significant social stigma associated with it, and much misinformation about it is perpetuated. Most people who've diagnosed themselves with Benjamin's Syndrome just want to deal with their condition as thoroughly as possible, then forget about it and get on with normal lives. So the people who get the most publicity are an outspoken minority who are not at all representative of people with Benjamin's Syndrome in general, and people who don't have Benjamin's Syndrome at all but are lumped into the same category by ignorant or sensationalist media. This makes it hard for people with Benjamin's Syndrome to recognise themselves in the way the condition is portrayed. And society's attitude towards Benjamin's Syndrome makes it scary to talk to anyone about the possibility that you may be suffering from it, or even think about it.

People with Benjamin's Syndrome are usually uncomfortable with their bodies, ranging from simply feeling that they're not quite right in some way through to outright loathing of the aspects that don't match their gender identity. They tend to relate better to people of their actual gender than those of the gender they were raised as, and have interests and personalities more typical of people of their actual gender (not stereotypes - people with Benjamin's Syndrome are just as varied as anyone else, and it isn't possible to label any particular trait as exclusively masculine or feminine), albeit influenced to some extent by socialistaion and hormones. People with Benjamin's Syndrome usually respond very favourably (emotionally if not physically) to hormone replacement therapy to bring their endocrine system in line with what is normal for their actual gender, and find changing gender roles to be of immense psychological benefit (disregarding the negative effects of social disapproval).

Not everyone who claims to or believes that they have Benjamin's Syndrome really does. Some gay men have been known to seek to become women to "make themselves straight", and there are mental disorders which can result in the expression of a desire to change sex without any genuine identification with the matching gender. Though psychiatric evaluation and counselling can not diagnose Benjamin's Syndrome, they can be useful in weeding out people who have some other problem, and coming to terms with it for those who do suffer from the condition.