Facing transgender and cisgender patients: The influence of the client’s experienced gender and gender identity on clinical evaluation

The present study aims at investigating the role of anti-transgender bias in the psychological assessment of transgender (vs. cisgender) patients. To this purpose, a female sample of licensed psychotherapists (N = 218) was presented with clinical vignettes that described a transgender (vs. cisgender) man (vs. woman) reporting depressive symptoms or anger outbursts. Participants were asked to evaluate the fictitious patient answering questions on their diagnostic impressions (e.g., psychopathological severity). Moreover, the respondents’ individual variables (i.e., right-wing authoritarianism) were also assessed. Results revealed that, for high levels of authoritarianism, psychotherapists evaluated cisgender women as more severe than transwomen and cisgender men. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.