Lisa Marchiano is an American psychotherapist and global ringleader in the anti-transgender movement. Her efforts are focused on promoting controversial concepts like “rapid onset gender dysphoria” and “detransition.”
Marchiano is involved with anti-trans organization Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) and is likely the fey figure behind the website Youth Trans Critical Professionals (YTCP).
Do not under any circumstances go to Marchiano for any counseling of any kind. If you are a minor forced to see Marchiano, do everything in your power to end the sessions and find a supportive local therapist instead.
Background
Biologist Julia Serano reviewed evidence that Marchiano posted as “skepticaltherapist” before setting up YTCP. In an early comment on that site, the poster states, “I am a psychotherapist with 20 years experience.” Serano wrote:
In my Origins timeline, I also speculated (see entry March 14, 2016) that skepticaltherapist became one of the co-founders of YTCP on the basis that 1) she mysteriously disappeared from the scene just as YTCP came into existence, 2) the very first post on YTCP mentions social contagion, and 3) two days later (see entry March 16, 2016) TransgenderTrend interviewed YTCP and the latter discussed social contagion in a manner very similar to skepticaltherapist, including a prominent mention of the social media website Tumblr (which will come up again). I also observed that YTCP’s web domain shared the same registrar and registrant organization as 4thwavenow (see entry March 14, 2016), suggesting that they may have been working together in some capacity.
In 2023 it was revealed that Marchiano was heavily involved behind the scenes in attacking trans people and their supporters.
References
Serano, Julia (March 24, 2023). Did Lisa Marchiano Invent “Transgender Social Contagion” and “No Transition Before Age 25”? Medium https://juliaserano.medium.com/did-lisa-marchiano-invent-transgender-social-contagion-and-no-transition-before-age-25-c74f26e2f0f9
Reed, Erin (January 13, 2023). Unpacking ‘gender exploratory therapy,’ a new form of conversion therapy. Xtra https://xtramagazine.com/health/gender-exploratory-therapy-243833
Marchiano L (2017). Outbreak: On Transgender Teens and Psychic Epidemics. Psychological Perspectives Volume 60, 2017 – Issue 3: Gender Diversity https://doi.org/10.1080/00332925.2017.1350804
Marchiano L (2021). Gender detransition: a case study. The Journal of Analytical Psychology Volume66, Issue4 September 2021 Pages 813-832 https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5922.12711
Murphy, Meghan (June 22, 2017). Lisa Marchiano on the trouble with transing kids. Feminist Current https://www.feministcurrent.com/2017/06/22/lisa-marchiano-trouble-transing-kids/
Media
Benjamin Boyce (February 14, 2019) Teen Transition & the Search for Meaning | with Lisa Marchiano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl9m-6fU16M
Detrans Awareness Day (Feb 17, 2022). Lisa Marchiano addressed the issues she sees in her practice with Detransitioners. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftEtyrcrv-k
Stella O’Malley and Sasha Ayad (December 16, 2021). Finding A Therapist for Your Gender-questioning Teen: A Conversation w/ Lisa Marchiano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VakiSoc7hDQ
Resources
Lisa Marchiano (lisamarchiano.com)
Youth Trans Critical Professionals (youthtranscriticalprofessionals.org) [taken private in 2023]
Twitter (twitter.com)
Quillette (quillette.com)