genderaffirming.ai 

Reddit user /u/gpichler's Detransition Story

male
suspicious account
This story is from the comments by /u/gpichler that are listed below, summarised with AI.
On Reddit, people often share their experiences across multiple comments or posts. To make this information more accessible, our AI gathers all of those scattered pieces into a single, easy-to-read summary and timeline. All system prompts are noted on the prompts page.
User Authenticity Assessment: Suspicious Account

Based on the provided comments, the account "gpichler" exhibits several serious red flags that suggest it is not an authentic account of a detransitioner or desister.

Key Red Flags:

  1. Promotion of a Specific Theory: The user exclusively promotes their own self-published book and website ("The Transsexual Delusion" on transgression.com), framing transsexualism as a "behavioral addiction" treatable with anticonvulsants. This reads more like an author marketing a specific, non-mainstream theory than a personal account of detransition.

  2. Lack of Personal Narrative: There is no sharing of personal detransition experiences, struggles, or feelings. The comments are entirely clinical, historical, and argumentative, citing studies and anecdotes about others.

  3. Repetitive, Copy-Paste Style: The user repeatedly links to the same pages on their website (e.g., the "behavioral addiction" page) using identical phrasing across multiple comments, which is characteristic of propaganda or bot-like behavior rather than organic discussion.

  4. Unverifiable Claims: The account makes grand, unverifiable claims about conducting a long-term study ("I followed the subjects... for the next fifteen to twenty years") and having unique clinical insights, but provides no credible evidence or professional affiliation to support this authority.

Conclusion: This account appears to be inauthentic. It is not a genuine detransitioner sharing their journey but is instead a vehicle to promote a specific ideological website and a debunked theory (autogynephilia as an addiction) under the guise of being a concerned researcher.

About me

I spent over fifteen years following the lives of more than a hundred people who transitioned. I came to see it as a behavioral addiction, where many reached a point of exhaustion and detransitioned after about thirteen years. I saw immense suffering, including deaths and lives ruined, and I believe this is driven by a brain chemistry issue that could be treated. I've watched the medical system in Toronto stop questioning patients and just give them what they ask for, which I find irresponsible. I now believe proper research into alternative treatments would prevent a lifetime of pain and irreversible procedures.

My detransition story

My journey with gender transition wasn't a personal one in the way you might think. I didn't transition myself. Instead, I spent over fifteen years observing and interviewing more than a hundred people who were in various stages of transitioning. I followed their lives closely, watching what happened to them over many years.

My research led me to believe that what we call transsexualism is actually a behavioral addiction, similar to a gambling or sex addiction. I call it autogynephilic addiction. I saw a pattern where people would go through stages of this addiction, and on average, after about thirteen years, they would reach a stage I call "Exhaustion." This is when many of them detransitioned. I saw a lot of suffering. Some of the people I followed died from related issues or addictions, and others are alive but on disability, often relying on antidepressants.

A key part of my findings was the connection to other addictions, which can be genetic. I also found something very interesting about anticonvulsant medication, which is also used to treat addictions. I came across a few cases, including one I wrote about in my book, where a person who was fixated on transitioning started taking anticonvulsants for another medical reason. After about twenty days on the medication, their desire to transition completely vanished. But when they stopped the medication, the feelings came back. This happened twice with this person. I believe this points to a brain chemistry issue that could be treated, rather than a need for surgery.

I saw how the medical system has changed. I go to a health centre in Toronto that also treats many trans patients. In my view, the doctors there are not acting in the best health interests of their patients. They've adopted a policy of not questioning anything and just giving people the hormones or surgery referrals they ask for. I saw this with one patient, a man in his late forties who identifies as a seven-year-old girl. The doctors were supporting his pursuit of surgery, which I believe is irresponsible.

I don't hate people who identify as trans. I've just seen too many negative outcomes. I believe that every cell in our body is undeniably male or female, with 1,600 genetic markers stating that fact. Surgery and hormones can't change that fundamental biological reality. I think the push for transition is driven by ideology, not science, and that proper gatekeeping and exploration of alternative treatments, like addressing underlying addiction issues, would help people more.

I have strong regrets about how the medical community has handled this. I believe that if we had proper, unbiased research, we could find ways to help people without them going through irreversible surgeries and a lifetime of hormones. The current path leads to too much pain, and I've seen it firsthand.

Here is a timeline of my involvement and key observations:

Age Event
(Age not specified in comments) Began observing and interviewing over 100 people who were transitioning.
(Age not specified in comments) Published my first book, "Unacceptable Losses," on this topic.
(Age not specified in comments) Published my second book, "The Transsexual Delusion," expanding on the theory of behavioral addiction.
(Age not specified in comments) Learned about cases where anticonvulsant medication eliminated the desire to transition.
(Age not specified in comments) Continued to follow subjects for 15-20 years, noting the average detransition point of 13 years.

Top Reddit Comments by /u/gpichler:

18 comments • Posting since August 25, 2019
Reddit user gpichler explains their theory that transsexualism is a behavioral addiction, citing a source that claims the average point to detransition is 13 years after onset, aligning with the 'exhaustion' stage of addiction.
24 pointsOct 5, 2019
View on Reddit

I believe you will find the average point self identifying, transsexuals choose to de-transition is 13 years after the onset of the phenomenon. People who suffer behavioral addiction reach stage five, Exhaustion, after 13 years on average. [1] Transsexualism is a behavioral addiction much like Internet addiction, gambling addiction or sex addiction that is caused by a chromosome that effects the reward system in the human brain. [2]

[1] Addiction lifecycle

http://www.transgression.com/Books/TheTranssexualDelusion/OnlineMaterial/BehavioralAddiction.aspx?CountryISONumericCode=124&LanguageISOAlpha2Code=en

[2] objective tests for Autogynephilia and Auto-androphilia

http://www.transgression.com/Books/TheTranssexualDelusion/OnlineMaterial/BehavioralAddiction.aspx?CountryISONumericCode=124&LanguageISOAlpha2Code=en

Reddit user gpichler explains why Johns Hopkins professor Paul McHugh shut down the university's gender reassignment surgery program after a study.
20 pointsSep 18, 2019
View on Reddit

Paul McHuge compassionately shut down so-call reassignment surgery at the Gender Clinic at Johns Hopkins University Hospital after commissioning an Quantitative study of post surgical candidates.. Johns Hopkins University Hospital was the first clinic in the country that provided amputation surgery as well as plastic surgery to largely male patients, who exhibited gender non conforming behavior. Fraudster John Money was a principal psychologist at the clinic over that dark period. McHuge, who was deeply skeptical of the intrinsic benefit of the surgery, made the right choice.

Reddit user gpichler explains the 1998 murder of psychologist Rita Powers by patient Walter Miller and suggests it contributes to minimal gatekeeping for transgender medical care due to fear and intimidation.
13 pointsAug 25, 2019
View on Reddit

Trans ideology groups have for decades targeted the psychiatric communication via fear and intimidation. The vast majority of the attacks have taken the form of harassment. However, in 1998 Walter Miller brought a 9mm handgun to an appointment with Rita Powers, a psychologist practising out of San Diego, CA. On the event that Powers refused to give Walter Miller a letter in support of his gender transition and in particular genital surgery, Miller took out his handgun and shot Powers a total of 17 times, killing the psychiatrist instantly, then killed himself. Immediately afterwards, trans advocates like the Ricky Wilkins, the Nancy Nangeroni's et al reportedly published opinions to the effect that it serves Powers right getting in the way of a trans woman and her surgery. Given the financial rewards of being on board the woman trapped in a male body narrative, and the fear of reprisals for restraint, is it any wonder why there are very few professionals who provide proper gatekeeping? http://www.transgression.com/Articles/DisplayArticle.aspx?CountryISONumericCode=124&LanguageISOAlpha2Code=en&ArticleCode=WalterMillerKillsRitaPowers

Reddit user gpichler explains why a penectomy may not relieve gender dysphoria, citing a 5% post-operative suicide rate and linking it to underlying causes of transsexuality as a behavioral addiction.
10 pointsOct 11, 2019
View on Reddit

Undergoing a penectomy will likely not relieve the symptoms you are experiencing. 5% of postoperative transsexuals commit suicide twenty times that of the greater population. The reasons have nothing to do with prejudice and everything to do with the underlying causes of transsexuality.

Life cycle of transsexual based addiction

http://www.transgression.com/Books/TheTranssexualDelusion/OnlineMaterial/BehavioralAddiction.aspx?CountryISONumericCode=124&LanguageISOAlpha2Code=en

Reddit user gpichler explains why they believe transgenderism is a behavioral addiction, arguing that detransitioners are ostracized because they threaten the "born in the wrong body" narrative and represent the fifth 'Exhaustion' stage of the addiction cycle.
6 pointsOct 2, 2019
View on Reddit

The reason that self-identifying transsexuals punish and ostracize former self-identifying transsexuals has to do with the concept of suffering. Suffering is a common characteristic of all behavioral addictions. [1] Transsexualism (or the more modern term, transgenderism) meets all the diagnostic criteria of being a behavioral addiction. [1]

Suffering (desire to alleviate perceived suffering)

The vast majority of transsexuals (male and female) regard any obstruction to surgical procedures that aid in their respective gender transitions as a form of suffering. A number of male to female transsexuals regard gender reassignment surgical (GRS) procedures as "life saving" surgery and sacrosanct to their health interests, indicating a degree of discomfort in the absence of the procedure. Further, a number of transsexuals report they will commit suicide, if they are unsuccessful with respect to being approved to undergo a GRS procedure or similar procedure that protracts the testes. Male to female transsexuals rarely commit suicide in the period leading up to a major surgical procedure that protracts the testes. In fact the vast majority of cases of transsexuals who commit suicide do so after undergoing a GRS procedure and not prior. 5% of all post-operative, male to female transsexuals commit suicide, which is 20 times higher than that of the greater population. In the vast majority of cases of suicide the reasons had nothing to do with prejudice. In fact the vast majority of transsexuals kill themselves when they de-transition and are ostracized by their peers. Whether the individual suffers or not is immaterial. The perception is all that matters. Transsexualism satisfies this diagnostic characteristic of being a behavioral addiction.

When self-identifying transsexuals and transgenders elect to embark on detransition, it violates their weak ideological narrative that they are born in the wrong body so to evade suffering self-identifying transsexuals must ostracize the individual who represents living proof of the disparity between the delusion of being the opposite sex and reality.

People, who de-transition, are in the fifth stage of the behavioral addiction, Exhaustion, which happens on average 13 years after the individual embarks on a gender transition. [2]

[1] Transsexualism & the Diagnostic Characteristics of Behavioral Addiction

[2] Behavioral Addiction Life Cycle

Reddit user gpichler posts an article on an anticonvulsant therapy protocol to treat autogynephilic addiction in gender transition.
5 pointsSep 15, 2019
View on Reddit

Here is the article on anticonvulsant therapy for gender transition addicts.

Anticonvulsant Therapy Protocol to Treat Autogynephilic Addiction

G Eugene Pichler

Reddit user gpichler comments on the difficulty of defining a trans identity over 15 years and links to an article discussing autogynephilia as a behavioral addiction.
5 pointsOct 9, 2019
View on Reddit

The problem is the interview subject is a moving target over a 15 year period The article below will explain the reasons.

Augynephilic behavioral addiction. What is it?

http://www.transgression.com/Books/TheTranssexualDelusion/OnlineMaterial/BehavioralAddiction.aspx?CountryISONumericCode=124&LanguageISOAlpha2Code=en

Reddit user gpichler explains why they believe the term "cisgender" is redundant, arguing that a female taking testosterone is medically and genetically still female.
5 pointsSep 16, 2019
View on Reddit

A CIS gendered male is in fact male. A female taking synthetic cross-sex hormones is not a male. A female taking cross-sex hormones is female, regardless of medication, surgerical procedures, or dress. 1,600 genetic markers in the DNA of every cell, is irrefutable. Identity is irrelevant. Medically, you can no more transform a female into a male than you can a leopard into an elephant. Thus, the term, CIS gendered, is redundant. The term adds no value.

Reddit user gpichler discusses the case of Maritza Cummings, a female detransitioner who cycled between transitioning and detransitioning, linking it to religious phases and proposing transsexualism as a behavioral addiction with a potential genetic link to paternal alcoholism.
5 pointsSep 12, 2019
View on Reddit

There are lots of females that transition then detransition only to transition again. Maritza Cummings, a.k.a., Mark Angelo Cummings, engaged in a cycle of transitioning followed by detransitioning on two separate occasions since September, 2015. Cummings also vascillated from being religion critical to being a religious convert. Commings detransition stints have historically coincided with her religious stints. At one time Cummings reported that her 13 year transition was in fact an addiction and that transsexualism, the phenomenon, itself, is a behavioral addiction. [1] Cummings reported her father was an alcoholic. Substance addiction is genetic. The disorder is passed from father to child, three times more likely to a male child than a female child.

Currently, Cummings identifies as a detransitioner. However, Cummings no longer identifies as a Christian convert as she reported she took Christianity "way over the top".

[1] See material on Transsexualism as a Behavioral Addiction below. http://www.transgression.com/Books/TheTranssexualDelusion/OnlineMaterial/BehavioralAddiction.aspx?CountryISONumericCode=124&LanguageISOAlpha2Code=en

'G Eugene Pichler

Reddit user gpichler comments on detransitioning, stating that DNA contains 1,600 sex-specific genetic markers that cannot be changed, and shares a link to an "objective test" for autogynephilia.
5 pointsSep 11, 2019
View on Reddit

I do not hate transsexual identifying people. I watched a number of my subjects die due to ancillary addictions. Others are alive, but on disability. Unfortunately for them, they have to pay for their antidepressant meds. The Canadian government doesn't cover that.

I remind you that every strand of DNA in every cell in your body has 1,600 genetic markers delineated by sex, including every cell in your brain. Although I grant you, it is easier to amputate one's genitalia on a delusional belief system than to retract 1,600 genetics markers in millions of cells inside the human body. These trillions of genetic markers will not change regardless of how many body parts one amputates or what clothing one purchases or how much energies you spend obsessing about gender transition.

However, if it helps you cope with the concept of one's proclivities toward gender transition is something beyond DNA, and you are comfortable that there is no objective test to determine a so-called gender identity disorder, go ahead. Trash me as a transphobe. Get it off your chest. In 2008 I got death threats every week.

As an aside here is an objective test for autogynephilic addiction. Google ranks the page as number 1.2 for the phrase, "autogynephilia test". [1] See where you fit.

[1] Objective Tests for Autogynephilia and Autogynephilic Addiction

http://www.transgression.com/Books/TheTranssexualDelusion/OnlineMaterial/AutogynephilicAddictionObjectiveTests.aspx?CountryISONumericCode=124&LanguageISOAlpha2Code=en

G Eugene Pichler