Gender Identity "disorder"

It isn't considerated a mental illness anymore but doctors have difficulties to put dyshoria away from DSM because otherwise there won't be money exemptions for the surgeries.

This is in Italy, I don't know if in America is the same.

I'd put dyphoria near social phobia, for example. This one isn't considerated a mental illness but doctors help you with this problem the same.

 

I wouldn't take it literally. I don't know the origins of the term but I'm guessing it's just an out-of-date term that some psychologist came up with donkey's years ago.

I don't like the term transsexual. It makes it sound like it has something to do with sexuality.

 

I don't like the term transsexual either. It was weird when my first mental health doc told me that she agreed I was transsexual. I was thrown by the term xD

 

Sorry to hikack the thread here but does anyone know if it's ok to call yourself transgender even though technically you're transsexual?

I will only ever say I'm trans (as in short for transgender) because I hate the fact that transsexual makes it sound like some sexual fetish of wanting a dick

 

Growing up, I always associated transsexual with some weird sexual fetish and not much more. Obviously, I'm here and my world-view is drastically different now than then, but that word has always carried much stigma. As a 'male' massage therapist I deal with many stigmatizing ideologies all the time. It's forced me to change my perceptions of a lot of things.

 

GID has been removed from the latest DSM while dysphoria remains. As FireSmoke said, this is so that doctors may still help with any emotional/ medical concerns.

Re: transgender vs. transsexual, transgender is both an umbrella and a more specific term. Transgender as an umbrella term applies to everyone who does not identify discretely with their assigned sex. Someone who is transsexual experiences substantial body dysphoria and desires SRS (whether or not they receive it is irrelevant). Someone who is transgender (specific term) may or may not have substantial body dysphoria but certainly wishes to operate within society as a gender to which they were not assigned based upon their birth sex.

I don't see the fetishism perception of being transsexual... That's a transvestite (very different).

 

Psychologists have struggled with what to name "it" since the 1960s, if not longer.

The standard handbook that psychologists in the US use for assigning diagnoses is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychological Association. That book is currently in its 5th edition.

In the 4th edition, "it" was called "Gender Identity Disorder," but the 5th edition uses the name "Gender Dysphoria" - and a large part of why that changed was because it seemed unnecessarily stigmatizing to say that we have a "disorder." But there still needs to be a generally-accepted name (and corresponding diagnostic code) so that the few of us who are lucky enough to have insurance that covers hormonal or surgical treatment can claim that coverage. One of the objections raised against dropping the "disorder" language was that it might lead some insurers to drop coverage (no "disorder," no medical necessity for treatment, right?).

Also, the WPATH Standards of Care use the DSM-V diagnosis (there's a corresponding European standard diagnosis too, I think) as a guideline for determining who should be eligible for hormonal or surgical treatment.

In my city, there is only one endocrinologist who will provide "cross-sex hormone therapy," and I found that his office won't even schedule an initial appointment until they've received a copy of a letter from a psychologist stating that the patient has been diagnosed with GID/GD.

Gee, there I go sounding all mansplainy again.

 

I know, but generally speaking those two terms have more often than not (at least in the past) been treated as synonymous with each other.

 

:dry: and this must be rectified... somehow... :dry:

 

It's now classified as "Gender Dysphoria" in the new edition of the DSM-V. Not sure why it was GID for the longest time though.

 

I'm gonna be the odd one out here, but growing up I always thought of transitioners when I heard the word "transsexual", like when I found out about Christine Jorgensen (sp?). I also do prefer "transsexual" when I talk about me, because it's not my gender I'm changing, it's my physical sex.

Literally the very first time I heard anyone think about transsexuality having anything to do with sexuality was after I'd started visiting sites like this one. I chalk that up more to my being more exposed to that kind of thing and having different circles of friends though. I did not come across that in my straight life.

But yeah transgender is intended as an umbrella term. If you like that better rock it

 

I actually like the term transsexual. I just think it sounds more official. Transgender is also a term I like, but lately it seems like it's become an umbrella of sorts, which is a bit confusing.

"Nothing wrong"? There is something wrong if you're transsexual, and that's a brain-body mismatch. Is it a mental illness? No. That's like saying Huntington's Disease is a mental disease. Even if society had no gender roles, I'd surely seek medication. So saying there is no problem wouldn't be quite right.

The problem here isn't the fact that transsexual = medical condition, it's the stigma attached to being trans. So, basically, we agree that society treats trans people in an unjust way.