A new book written by experts at Family Research Council delves into the root causes of the transgender identity phenomenon, revealing how trauma lies at the heart of why an increasing number of young people are disassociating from their biological sex.

Released Wednesday, “Embracing God’s Design: Addressing the Spiritual and Psychological Crisis Behind Transgender Identity” is authored by FRC’s Dr. Jennifer Bauwens and FRC Senior Fellow Walt Heyer, who bring unique perspectives and share extensive experience with the issue of transgender identity. Bauwens has a wide-ranging academic and clinical background as a practicing clinician and clinical researcher on the effects of trauma on children, while Heyer became a well-known advocate for detransitioners after spending eight years identifying and living as a woman after undergoing hormone treatments and surgery before transitioning back to his biological sex over 35 years ago.

On Tuesday, they joined “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” to discuss their new book, which explores the spiritual nature of the transgender phenomenon a well as the psychological factors that underpin its manifestations. “[W]ith my background and his background [and] personal experience, [we felt] we could really produce a resource for people who want to understand and be equipped to deal with the gender ideology,” Bauwens explained.

She went on to highlight a study that found that 1.4% of American teenagers identify as trans, noting that this data point doesn’t tell the whole story.

“What isn’t included in that statistic is the fact that we have a whole group of young people who’ve been exposed to this ideology through school, through social media, etc., so just because they’re not personally identifying as transgender doesn’t mean that they haven’t been infected by the ideology,” Bauwens pointed out. “And we need to know how to speak compassionately about this issue, and we also need to understand: what are the real issues? This holds true for policymakers, and it holds true for the community at large. We really need to speak in a way that gets to the heart of why someone would be driven to identify as transgender with a false identity.”

Bauwens further observed that based on her clinical experience, the effects of trauma are deeply tied to an eventual identification as the opposite sex.

“[T]his ideology goes hand in glove with those who’ve experienced trauma,” she underscored. “Because very often when someone goes through complex or ongoing trauma, what they want to do is — and it’s not necessarily at a conscious level — but they want to disconnect from that place of being a victim, of being harmed or just simply the pain of what they went through. … [T]he term dissociation or disconnection is commonplace here. So here you have an ideology that says, ‘Oh, we can help you disconnect from who you are and from your past, etc.’ So you can see just on the surface how hand in glove this ideology really is with those who’ve experienced trauma, who are seeking to distance themselves from the pain of what they’ve been through.”

Heyer concurred as he described his own experience of childhood abuse.

“I was sexually abused and physically abused before I was 10 years old,” he related. “That was in the 1940s, so it was a long time ago, so I’ve been dealing with this on this level. … I opened my website 20 years ago, SexChangeRegret.com and started helping people because I experienced … the regrettable outcome of [a gender transition], and I wanted to find out how many other people have gone through this. In working with these individuals, I can tell you that well over 90% of them, when I spend time with them, we can identify a trauma, an event, an issue that happened to them that caused them to not like who they are, just like I did. And once we focus on that trauma, that event, then we can actually find out they didn’t have gender dysphoria, they just didn’t like who they were. They didn’t like being the one who was physically abused or was abandoned.”

Heyer continued, “[It] is called adverse childhood experiences, and we address this in the book. Up to this point, I think everybody’s just kind of been using a hammer to deal with this issue. … I’ve worked with thousands of individuals who’ve gone through this, and then [Jennifer] has this tremendous background in trauma. … We actually provide a huge toolbox for everybody who’s interested or working with this issue that they can draw from and actually begin helping people.”

Bauwens also noted that “Embracing God’s Design” can be utilized on multiple levels, not only as a practical guide for families but also for policymakers.

“[W]e believe that everything that we have in this book is so essential for policymakers, [first] to be able to speak about the issue in a very thoughtful and meaningful way that’s grounded in research, but also it is very practical,” she remarked. “So it has dual purposes in that way. We want to equip believers, conservatives to be able to help someone. … [T]here [are] so many things that could spin off from this book to become good policy issues, whether it’s addressing the mental health system and some of the diagnoses, the diagnostic problems that we face from insurance reimbursement. … There are a number of ways that this could be used as a policy book. But the heart of it is really quite practical and something that anyone can get a hold of.”

As to the role that faith in God and in the saving power of Christ has had on helping transgender-identifying individuals transition back to embracing their biological sex, Heyer reported that faith has indeed had an outsized impact.

“Of the people that I’ve worked with — it’s hard to track when you’re dealing with thousands of people — but I would say over 50% of them find their way to the Lord Jesus Christ when they finally understand … the truth that hormones and surgery has never changed anybody’s biological gender,” he emphasized. “You’re still who you are. You’re just identifying as someone who you’re not. And so that reality comes to light when you finally come face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer, as it did with me. And you realize that you’ve been serving the LGBT when you should be serving the Lord Jesus Christ.”