I don't know what it's like to be transgender, so I don't know if it's a feeling of wanting to truly become a member of the opposite sex in all regards, or if the possible transition, limited somewhat by biology, will have the result and effects that a transgender is hoping for. It seems like a case of assuming too much and confusing words concepts for a much more complex phenomena on my part.

I think as far as I know, the way professional psychologists approach this subject, is to rely on studies which seek to determine the effectiveness of different types of therapy. And it has been shown pretty consistently that both social and hormonal transition lead to a significant increase in personal satisfaction, and a decrease in anxiety, other types of mental problems and drug abuse. So one could argue about what exactly constitutes transsexuality and all that, but the effectiveness of the current approach is pretty well established.

To prove that psychologists rely on this, instead of just letting transsexual people transition out of political correctness, let me say this. Some psychologists don't encourage genital surgery anymore, since studies on the effectiveness of genital surgery have been inconclusive.

And don't be worried about mixing up a bunch of things. I'm gonna assume you aren't transsexual, and transsexuality is a complicated subject. So it's completely understandable to be confused about it. I'm honestly not sure either why your first comment was downvoted. You just asked questions, which is really something that should be encouraged. If people argued more the way you do, and less in the polemic way that tumblr-feminists and such do, I think there would be a lot more empathy and understanding about these issues.

Where I am, it's publically funded, but somewhat diffcult to get. It requires a lot of counselling first, usually for a year or two. Some parents are apparently starting their transgender kids on hormone therapy in or before puberty in order for them to get the best results. There's been some debate about it. I don't see who would be more fit to make such a decision than the child and parents, maybe even the child, though there are some ethical dilemmas in that department.

I'm actually against this. I think that transsexual people can indeed notice their condition from an early age. But I think that for every transsexual person who would transition early, there would be a bunch of non-transsexual people who are just going through a phase ending up with permanently altered biology. And I don't think that's worth it.

I don't think many, if any, transgenders encourage sex change in kids. I would be extremely surprised.

I certainly hope they don't!