Transgenderism, suicide, and mental illness

Let's review the basic situation.
I have no specific background in either law or medicine,
but I do read (some) newspapers.
They have frequently reported that
sufficient cause for involuntary commitment to a psychiatric institution
was evidence that "they present a danger to themselves or others".
As another example, prison inmates considered at risk for suicide
are generally put under a suicide watch.
In these situations, the access of the person to items which could be used for suicide or self-mutilation,
such as belts and razor blades,
is strictly limited.
In the extreme case, the person is put into a padded cell
and even put under some kind of physical restraints such as a straitjacket.
So, to the best of my knowledge, a person suspected of being at risk of suicide or self-mutilation
is considered seriously mentally ill,
and two things happen:
1. physical measures are taken to prevent the potential suicide or self-mutilation, and
2. the person will, possibly, be treated for mental illness by a psychiatric professional.

So why are transgenders, when they threaten suicide or self-mutilation
(as in the example of Chelsea Manning reported below),
treated differently?

I suppose one possible answer is that
if a person is put into such an unbearable situation
that a normal person would consider suicide the best alternative,
then the problem is not with the person,
but with the situation he finds himself in.
Prisoners of war being tortured would be an example.
If the torture is unbearable, than death is more desirable than continued torture.
But the key point is:
Would a normal person find the situation unbearable?

Suppose a high school student would threaten suicide unless they got what they want.
Would a school district be expected to give them what they want?
Of course not.
So why are the claims of "unbearable pain" by transgenders being taken as legitimate?

And if some transgenders do indeed commit suicide,
that by itself proves nothing.
People throughout history have gone to their death to advance a group goal.
Consider suicide bombers.
Or consider all those people who have burned themselves to death to make a point.
There have been many reported examples of such self-immolation,
again to make a political point.

In some cases, observers think the point is valid. The point is made.
In other cases, the point still seems irrational,
and the suicide is dismissed as
an unfortunate example of the consequences of mental illness.

So suicide, by itself, proves nothing.
The question, again, is
how would a normal person view the alleged reason for the suicide.

And transgenders certainly have not been considered normal.
Why should they be?

I think this difference,
in whether suicide is viewed as a result of mental illness or unbearable conditions,
indicates the arbitrariness and politicization of some of the judgements of psychology.

2015-02-13-AP-military-approves-hormone-treatment-for-chelsea-manning

Military Approves Hormone Treatment for Chelsea Manning
by Lolita C. Baldor
Associated Press, 2015-02-13

WASHINGTON --

Defense Department officials said Thursday that
hormone treatment for gender reassignment has been approved for Chelsea Manning,
the former intelligence analyst convicted of espionage
for sending classified documents to the WikiLeaks website.

...

The decision came after a lawsuit was filed in September
in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
It alleged
Manning was at a high risk of self-castration and suicide
unless she received more focused treatment for gender dysphoria,
the sense of being a woman in a man's body.

...

---

For an example of how the media normally explains suicide,
here is an example from the Washington Post:

2015-04-12-WP-rhythms-of-washington-return-after-illinois-mans-suicide-outside-capitol

Rhythms of Washington return after Illinois man’s suicide outside Capitol
By Victoria St. Martin and Michael Laris
Washington Post, 2015-04-12

[Emphasis added.]


The sightseers were back at the U.S. Capitol on Sunday,
roaming in the brilliant sun in the place where
a man had ended his young life in a tragic and spectacular fashion
just the day before.

Explanations remained elusive Sunday for what may have helped drive the man,
identified in police documents as Leo P. Thornton, 22, to commit suicide —
and to do so in one of the nation’s iconic places.

...

Thornton had a brown carry-on bag full of clothes
and a sign that Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine said touched on “social justice.”
A witness said people who saw the sign told him it read
“Tax the one percent.”

Whatever political component may seem to have been at play,
said Christine Moutier,
chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
and a former psychiatry professor at the University of California at San Diego,
suicide is primarily a mental health problem.
Research shows that
in more than 90 percent of the 40,000 American suicides each year,
an active mental health issue is at play, Moutier said.

“We often look to external cues, which are absolutely important.
But we have done that at the expense of
identifying the more internal mental health changes that are taking place
that are actually amenable to treatment,” Moutier said.
“The fact is that millions of Americans believe different political positions,
or lose their job, or get bullied,
and don’t actually entertain the idea of suicide.
There must be some underlying mental health and cognitive risk factors
at play.”

...

[Yeah, right.
But just let a "transgender" person commit suicide,
and see if the media scumbags trot out an "expert" to sing the same tune.
The evidence is that they (e.g., media editorial boards) do not,
but rather present the suicide of the "transgender" person
as evidence of "unbearable pain" the "transgender" is undergoing.
What a bunch of hypocritical, double standarding media bosses.]