Abstract This paper summarizes the criteria and research on Gender Dysphoria (GD). GD is a marked incongruence between one’s experienced or expressed gender and assigned gender, of at least six months’ duration. Gender Identity Disorder (GID) taken from the DSM-IV was replaced with GD in the DSM-V because there was nothing wrong with a gender’s identity and because there are more descriptions for the disorder. There is an emotional disturbance among gender dysphoric individuals as they are not happy with their identity or gender. Studies show that the mismatch of the gender causes distress and that sexual reassignment surgery is the most successful as effective treatments. This study will explore the significant factors affecting gender dysphoric children and adults through literature reviews. It will aim to identify treatment approaches and its outcome among the population. Gender Dysphoria Severity and Treatments with Adolescents and Adults Gender disorders are complex as there are a sea of terms to describe an individual who feels that they do not fit within society. According to Gates (2011), there is an estimated 3.5% (9 million) of adults in the U.S. identified to be of the LGBT community. The vulnerable population is important to study since it is a large group that is not acknowledged and accepted into society. Genetics and physiological factors contribute to gender dysphoria. Also, individuals affected face victimization, stigma and harassment. The
There has been an increasing number of cases in the United States involving transgender children going through gender social transition. Transgender people are individuals who have a gender identity that does not correspond with their sex at birth (Olson, Durwood, DeMeules, & McLaughlin, 2016), and these individuals may undergo several forms of transition. Gender social transition can be defined as the situation in which individuals make changes in their social life by expressing themselves and live according to the gender that they identify with, instead of their sex at birth. These life changes may include using a different name, using different pronouns, changing physical appearances on the surface level (e.g., clothing, hairstyle), and even using a bathroom that aligns with the person’s identity. However, these changes do not include any medical or hormonal intervention. Thus, making it purely social intervention. This phenomenon also appears amongst children, which raised debates among the people, including the scientific community. Existing psychological literature have studied children who experience gender dysphoria (GD), defined as a sense of discomfort that resulted from from incongruence between gender identity and assigned sex (Steensma, 2013). The term was historically known as gender identity disorder (GID). The psychology community have explored the topic on whether or not parents should allow their children to go through gender social transition, and the
In class, we have learned and discussed how during the period of adolescence, it is known that this is the period of time where individuals are finding themselves and figuring out where they belong. It is during this time where individuals are the most sensitive and personal problems tend to arise more commonly during this stage. A major issue adolescents struggle during this stage is gender identity and sexuality. Adolescents are trying to figure out who they are attracted to and how they perceive themselves to be. While the norm is to identify oneself as their biological gender, there are those who develop gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is a reoccurring feeling that one’s biological gender is the opposite of one’s sexual identity (Cole,
In a world moving advancing with near instantaneous publication worldwide the fringe edges of society have become more visible. One group of people that has had the spotlight shined on them is those suffering from gender dysphoria–persons who are not comfortable living in the bodies that they are born with and are often referred to as transsexual. As of 2010, there was an estimated population of less than 1,000 of these fringe members of our society incarcerated in state and federal facilities. (Brown)
“One’s sense of gender resides in the brain” (“Gender Identity Disorder”), and this sense of gender is often there before you are born. Dr. Eric Vilain, a professor at the University of California, “identifies fifty-four genes that play a role in the expression of sex in a fetus before hormones are even released” (Windfeild 71&73). One of the biggest mental health issues that are out there is gender identity disorder which “may be as old as humanity (“Gender identity Disorder”). This disorder cause a person, normally a kid, to have a feeling of being the opposite sex . Another reason people need to be aware of people who have gender identity disorder is because if they feel as if they are not safe they may turn to a thing like suicide. “Suicide attempts and substance abuse are common” (“GID”) in people with Gender Identity Disorder. This is so because they often grow up feeling out of place or rejected by family and friends. To help with the mental health of these people with GID people should learn more about
Most gender dysphoric individuals can find relief from Hormone Replacement Therapy to assist in transitioning to the desired gender, while satisfaction is high at the end, there is unaffected depression left over with seemingly no explanation. He acknowledged that “There is a wide and potentially confounding range of variables in defining childhood abuse (age and gender of a child, nature, severity, and frequency of abuse and neglect, perpetrators, circumstances, cultural, linguistic and economic factors.), GD (type, degree or ‘severity’) and depression (type, onset, duration,
Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism published an article by Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis and Daniel Klink titled Adolescents with gender dysphoria in 2015. The article discusses the increase of youth diagnosed with gender dysphoria and receiving medical treatment and possibly surgery as well. The authors stressed the importance for psychotherapy and/or family therapy. The article also discussed the factors that influence gender development psychological, social, and biological. There are not many studies on determinants of gender dysphoria, and no epidemiological studies in children younger than 15 exist at all. Although, more recently research has focused on histological and brain imagining studies on individuals diagnosed
Gender Dysphoria is a name given to the condition of children who express a gender that is opposite of their biologically given gender. Children and teens who present and verbalize the desire to be of the opposite gender for at least six months are then diagnosed and treated medically. This issue is ethically controversial due to many parents, medical doctors, mental professionals, and myself believing that biological gender identification is not fully understood until puberty has taken place, noticing that children are exposed to transgender terminology and situations on the internet that are persuasive and confusing, and being concerned about the medications used to treat a disorder that can barely be explained and is misunderstood. Medications such as hormone blockers and opposite-sex hormones have become readily available to them without any long term testing. Not only should parents, doctors, professionals, and society be concerned about the safety of these medications, we should be asking ourselves, is gender dysphoria even a medical condition that should be treated with drugs or is it a psychological disorder that should be treated with therapy? Gender Dysphoria is a condition in children and teens that the general population does not understand, however, after doing research I believe the definition of gender dysphoria is
Many people today aren’t being educated about the topic of sex and gender, and they’ll end up living naïve and ignorant lives, but for some it can even be harmful. For some, their sex and gender don’t match up and they will experience gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria can cause a lot of psychological problems for a person, especially if it isn’t treated. Unfortunately, because of the lack of sex and gender education, some people who experience gender dysphoria don’t even know its existence, which can lead to anxiety, depression, and maybe even
The psychology of gender fluidity is a fundamental and contemporary subject. It is one which requires an in-depth analysis as it is an identity which is often misunderstood. Members of genderqueer community continuously experience stigmatization and discrimination due to societal norms. The societal norms are undeniably shaped from living in a gendered culture into which non-binary people do not easily fit in. Gender variance is commonly recognized as an absurdity and labelled as an unnatural behaviour. The experience of those who do not conform to a specific gender or those who do not identify as the sex they were assigned to at birth is one which is typically surrounded by difficulties with inner sense of belonging in addition to the discrimination, harassment, and denial of basic human rights. Subsequently, this strict way of thinking, too, often bring individuals with differing gender expressions into contact with mental health professionals. Therefore, this contact ultimately suggests a correlation between gender non-conformity and mental illness
Amongst disorders of modern day psychiatry, gender dysphoria (GD) is one of the more controversial diagnoses (Comer, 2014). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013) defines GD, previously listed as gender identity disorder (GID), as “a marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender, of at least 6 months duration” (as cited in APA, 2013, p. 452). Individuals with GD generally feel extreme discomfort around their assigned gender, and have a desire to change their social identity and/or secondary sex characteristics to more closely resemble those of the other gender (Comer, 2014). Treatments for GD include psychotherapy, hormone therapy, and sexual reassignment surgery.
The medical and behavioral (DSM) community has chosen to let go of the more shadowy term “Gender Identity Disorder,” in favor of a less charged and hopefully more suitable term, “Gender Dysphoria,” for transgender individuals. This paper will explore conventional clinical perspectives and subsequent changes therein; survey a few theoretical frameworks, both conventional and more post-modern, in order to gain a better understanding of how to effectively work with gender dysphoria. The main body of this paper will be structured under specific headings, beginning with a brief historical description of gender dysphoria, followed a brief discussion on etiology with some clinical implications. Current theoretical frameworks will be presented
They know it will not change throughout life. Even though children begin to see the difference of male and females, children born boys may feel and identify as girls and girls may feel and identify as boys. Parents might dismiss their child’s claim as a simple phase because of the expectations they have about their sons and daughters. However it is not a phase. Gender dysphoria, also known as gender identity disorder, is a condition of feeling one’s emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one’s biological sex. Children with gender dysphoria are affected both psychologically and sociologically; however, with the proper diagnosis and treatment parents will have the knowledge to properly bring up a child with gender dysphoria. Psychologically a child may have suicidal tendencies, be depressed, have emotional problems, and have high levels of stress and anxiety. Sociologically a child tends to be alone, tormented by peers and frightened of never being accepted by
Gender Dysphoria is one of the most important issues associated with problems people have with their gender identity. Aspects of Gender Dysphoria include
Although Gender Identity Disorder (GID) and homosexuality has been in the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) for many years, I was personally unaware of the controversy that surrounded it. I realized that I needed to educate myself in the issues and changes that have occurred in the DSM regarding GID and homosexuality over the years.
Gender Identity Disorder can make a child; adolescent or adult feel awkward and alone. Gender Identity Disorder paired with either Gender Dysphoria or Transsexualism will disrupt the development of social skills and create more problems behaviorally. Normative studies present evidence of the co-morbidity through parent report data revealing that children with Gender Identity Disorder have on