Gender Identity Disorder to be renamed

[qable]

DSM-V To Rename Gender Identity Disorder 'Gender Dysphoria'

The newest edition of the psychiatric diagnostic manual will do away with labeling transgender people as "disordered."The newest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, will replace the diagnostic term “Gender Identity Disorder” with the term “Gender

Comments

[pepsquad]

interesting seems like a step in the right direction.

[poetic_pixie_13]

“It no longer matters what your body looks like, what you want to do to it, all of that is irrelevant as far as the APA goes.”

Jesus fuck that's something that needs to be shouted from the rooftops as often as possible. A trans or genderqueer person who doesn't want surgery, hormones, or any kind of long-term or permanent physical change is still trans or genderqueer. Some folks need to change their bodies, some folks don't. There is not goddamned bullshit line of "you must want x amount of surgery to ride the roller coaster."

I like the new definition. It disassociates issues of dysphoria with being trans or trans identity in general. At the same time dysphoria can still be used to justify things like the funding of gender reassignment surgery under national healthcare. Being trans itself isn't an illness, but having gender dysphoria is an issue that must be addressed.

Also, anyone who argues that trans folks can't be fit parents deserves a punch in the throat.

[elialshadowpine]

Yeah, I tend to agree. From what I have heard from my trans friends and SOs, gender dysphoria is one of the hardest things to deal with, and the psychiatric label of mental illness for just being trans has put a huge barrier in front of them getting help to manage it. Some of them don't want surgery or hormone treatment, for varying reasons, but desperately want help in learning coping methods. But that's hard to do when you're scared of getting tossed in a psych ward or pressured to have treatment you don't want (the latter being something a lot of people I know have dealt with).

I don't necessarily think this is perfect, but I think it is a step in the right direction, and I hope that it will help a lot of psych professionals to be more open in understanding that being trans is not a mental illness.

(Totally agreed on the part about trans parents. WTF.)

[radges]

Amen. I mean I am on T and I do plan on having surgeries but I understand that not everyone wants to and I get so annoyed when even trans people are like "get out of our club house" shit.

[martyfan]

Not to mention those who can't afford it, or can't risk coming out and so have to stay in the closet.

[jettakd]

Finally some good news <3

[rex_dart]

Maybe I'm totally off-base and I hope someone will correct me if I am, but it seems as though it would be sort of nice if the DSM-V could have both diagnoses and allow trans people to have an option. Psychology isn't something that's set in stone and totally objective; how a patient feels an issue affects their lives is totally relevant, and if there are some patients who feel fine the way they are and some who feel that they can't be happy without surgery or other medical treatment, it would be nice if the patient and their doctors had some sort of control over how they are classified.

Of course that wouldn't solve all of the problems with the GID label discussed here, but perhaps it would help with the major issue of patients being unable to obtain the treatment they need because they won't have the right ~classification. (File under issues that would be solved if we didn't have fucking health insurance companies making all our goddamn decisions for us.)

[lone_concertina]

it would be sort of nice if the DSM-V could have both diagnoses and allow trans people to have an option

Especially considering the negatives listed in this article. Not that I'm condoning ANY of them (ugghhh) but until society catches up to where it needs to be, I don't want someone who wants the reassignment surgery denied because they're no longer considered "disordered." Which is a vile and disgusting thing to categorize them as anyway, but I hate the thought of someone losing an opportunity at happiness and personal acceptance because of this.

[rex_dart]

Yep, that's exactly it. I don't think anyone should ever have to be classified as disordered, but the world is a shitty place and sometimes you have to choose one shitty thing to avoid another shitty thing. I would just hate for this to spell the end of many trans people getting the treatment they personally need.

[radges]

I agree with this and I am trans.

One thing I hate is that my mom will tell people at my church (who have known me since I was like six) that I have GID instead of just saying he's transgender so then they just think that I do have an illness and things like that.

[cellared]

Hey, this is good news.

Hopefully the "disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning" criterion the DSM tacks on will still be helpful for people who are seeking diagnoses for legal or insurance reasons.

It's a really shitty tightrope you have to walk as someone with a DSM diagnosis between the stigma of having a "mental illness" and convincing insurance companies that you need treatment.