An Australian boy decided he wanted to become a girl after he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at the age of 12.
But after two years taking his mother’s oestrogen hormones, Patrick Mitchell had a change of heart.
‘I started developing like a girl would – which was the thing I wanted at that time. But now that’s no so helpful,’ Patrick, now 14, told Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes program.
‘You have an image of what being a boy and being a girl is like, but when you actually experience it, it’s very different.’
Patrick Mitchell decided he wanted to become a girl after he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at the age of 12. Two years later, he had a change of heart
Patrick grew his hair long and began developing breasts as a result of taking his mother’s oestrogen medication
After growing his hair and developing breasts as a result of his treatment, Patrick looked his mother in the eye and said: ‘I’m just not sure that I am a girl.’
‘I guess I just realised that I could be happy without completely changing who I am,’ he said.
Patrick had believed he was a girl trapped in a boy’s body from a young age and became severely depressed when he reached puberty.
‘I would get out of the shower and walk past the mirror and I wouldn’t look at myself because it just upset me,’ he said.
‘I would just wonder if I really needed to be alive.’
Patrick (pictured as a young child) would wear women’s clothes from a very young age
His mother, Alison, made the decision to give him puberty blockers before she allowed him to take her own oestrogen hormones when he was 13 years old.
Under Australian law, teenagers must wait until the age of 16 and need court approval before they can begin hormone replacement therapy.
‘Our motivation for second stage [oestrogen] treatment was that Patrick was growing very tall and very broad,’ she told the program.
‘One thing that oestrogen will do is halt bone growth to more of girl pattern of growth.
‘We were wanting to fuse his bone growth so that we could reduce his height a little bit and also soften his features.’
Senior paediatrician Professor John Whitehall said he held grave concerns about giving oestrogen to transgender teenagers.
Patrick’s mother, Alison, allowed her son to take her own oestrogen hormones when he was 13 years old
‘I started developing like a girl would – which was the thing I wanted at that time. But now that’s no so helpful,’ Patrick, now 14, said
‘There is no proof that this is going to work. You think their emotional problems are going to get better by giving them oestrogen – fine,’ he told the program.
‘That’s called optimism. It’s not called scientific method. The whole thing is experimental in that sense.’
Now Patrick is sure he is male, his mother said doctors were wrong to ‘pigeonhole him so quickly’ when he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Some of the affects of oestrogen hormones are permanent, and Patrick will need surgery to reduce the breasts he developed while taking the treatment.
‘I think it’s probably the final step in getting me back to being normal,’ he said.
‘I guess I look forward to not having to wear baggy clothes and being able to go swimming and playing sports.’
Patrick will need surgery to reduce the breasts he developed taking his mother’s oestrogen
Patrick and his mother will travel to South Korea for the surgery, one of the few countries willing to perform the procedure on a 14-year-boy, according to 60 Minutes.
‘I don’t have any regrets. You don’t make any of these decisions lightly,’ his mother said.
‘I’m sorry that he was confused and for the dark times, but I’m really happy with who he is today.’