title: Religious experiences of Iranian transgenders: A qualitative study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gender identity disorder and its treatment with sex reassignment surgery is a profound experience, which can affect the mental, interpersonal, social and religious aspects of one's life.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a qualitative content analysis study focusing on the various dimensions of the experiences of seven patients suffering from gender identity disorder in a female-to-male subgroup. This study presents a report concerning the religious aspects of their experience.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The findings of this study were categorized into the four following conceptual categories: sense of guilt; accomplishing a sense of submission to God's will as well as God's pleasing; practical commitment to religion; and rejection by the religious communities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Diminishing religion to spirituality comprised the core experiences of these patients having intimate relations with such concepts as secularism, stigma, and technocracy.
authors: MD, Psychiatry Resident, Tehran Psychiatry Institute, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. farnooshsafavifar@gmail.com.
authors: Farnoosh
authors: F
authors: Safavifar
authors: MD, Associate Professor, Psychiatry Department, Mental Health Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. mehrdad.eftekhar@gmail.com.
authors: Mehrdad
authors: M
authors: Eftekhar
authors: MD, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry Department Mental Health Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. kavehalavi@yahoo.com.
authors: Kaveh
authors: K
authors: Alavi
authors: PhD, Professor, Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. negarandeh@tums.ac.ir.
authors: Reza
authors: R
authors: Negarandeh
authors: MD, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry Department, Mental Health Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. drjalali57@gmail.com.
authors: Amir Hossein
authors: AH
authors: Jalali
authors: MD, Psychiatry Resident, Tehran Psychiatry Institute, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. m_eftekhar24@yahoo.com .
authors: Maryam
authors: M
authors: Eftekhar
keywords: Qualitative; Religious Experience; Sex Reassignment Surgery; Transsexualism