Gender Identity Disorder

Gender Identity Disorder

Gender Dysphoria

Treatments

A conflict between a person’s physical sex and the gender with which they identify.

Treatment aims to help people with the condition live the way they want to (so they are most comfortable), in their preferred gender identity.

There is no universal treatment, so below are the options corresponding to patients age

Puberty

Under 18, Before Puberty

Can be treated with gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) which suppresses puberty until the individual is ready to make a decision on treatment options

• Refer to a specialist child and adolescent Gender Identity Clinic.
• Typically provide parental, child, and family counseling/therapy.

"Usually with a mental disorder, we try and change the person's mind, this is the only mental disorder where the treatment is changing the body. In a typical mental disorder, we try to make those symptoms go away. Here the treatment has emerged to align the person's body to match their gender identity."

-Jack Drescher, a New York Psychiatrist

17 years or older

Adult Treatments

• Counselling
• cross-sex hormone treatment (taking hormones of your preferred gender)
• speech and language therapy
• hair removal treatments
• peer support groups
• family support

• Can be seen in an adult gender clinic
• Entitled to consent their own treatment.
• At this age doctors can more accurately diagnose gender dysphoria
• Steps can be taken towards more permanent treatments

If you wish to have surgery to change your sex you must live in your preferred gender identity for a year: known as ¨social gender role transition¨. After completing this, you may undergo surgery to permanently change your sex

Society's Response to Gender Dysphoria and Transgender People

Symptoms and DSM V Classification

Potential Causes of the Disorder

A patient is diagnosed if 2 or more of the following symptoms last for 6 or more months

• Due to the stigma around transgender people, the following issues arise

SEX-biological characteristics of being male or female

Adults

Adolescents

• Bullying
• Depression
• Suicide
• trouble accessing necessary medical care

GENDER-the societal expectations of being feminine or masculine

• The hormones that trigger the development of biological sex may not work properly on the brain, reproductive organs and genitals; causing a difference between them.
• This can be caused by additional hormones in the mother’s system or androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) — when hormones don’t work properly in the womb
• Can also be caused by intersex conditions — which cause babies to be born with the genitalia of both sexes.

• A strong desire to be of the other gender or an insistence that one is the other gender
• A strong preference for wearing clothes typical of the opposite gender
• A strong preference for cross-gender roles in make-believe play or fantasy play
• A strong preference for the toys, games or activities stereotypically used or engaged in by the other gender
• A strong preference for playmates of the other gender
• A strong rejection of toys, games and activities typical of one’s assigned gender
• A strong dislike of one’s sexual anatomy
• A strong desire for the physical sex characteristics that match one’s experienced gender

• A marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and primary and/or secondary sex characteristics
• A strong desire to be rid of one’s primary and/or secondary sex characteristics
• A strong desire for the primary and/or secondary sex characteristics of the other gender
• A strong desire to be of the other gender
• A strong desire to be treated as the other gender
• A strong conviction that one has the typical feelings and reactions of the other gender

This all makes "coming out" as transgender extremely difficult

Due to high stress on gender roles in society, being transgender has a strong stigma

Boys are expected to play with trucks, like sports, prefer the color blue, etc.

Girls are expected to like dolls, ballet, dresses, the color pink, etc.

The cupcakes and cookies are supposed to show how strongly we associate certain things to genders-putting a social strain on people with gender dysphoria

Statistics

Sample Case

4:21-6:58

References

Prognosis

Famous People with this disorder

• A survey of 10,000 people undertaken in 2012 by the Equality and Human Rights commission found that 1% of the population surveyed was gender variant to some extent. As GID becomes more public cases are increasing.
• There is near 100 percent absence of fathers in homes who suffer severe gender dysphoria.
• 1 in 30,000 adult males receive sexual reassignment surgery where only 1 in 100,000 adult females receive sexual reassignment surgery.
• 41% of transgender people in the US are suicidal where 4.6 percent of the overall population is.
• 62% of male-to female and 55% of female-to-male transgender persons were depressed.

• Medically, patients can be treated successfully with the aforementioned steps
• They may struggle the rest of their lives though due to society’s negative view on transgender people
• As seen in the statistics, many transgender people are depressed and/or suicidal

Parekh, R. (2016, February). What is Gender Dysphoria? Retrieved May 03, 2017, from https://

www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria

Gender dysphoria. (2016, December 4). Retrieved May 03, 2017, from http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/

Gender-dysphoria/Pages/Introduction.aspx

R., K. (2017, April 24). Living with Gender Dysphoria: Tips for Transgender People's Friends, Allies,

and Partners. Retrieved May 03, 2017, from https://healthyheels.org/2016/11/21/living-with-gender-dysphoria-tips-for-transgender-peoples-friends-allies-and-partners/

14 Unique Gender Identity Disorder Statistics. (2014, September 04). Retrieved May 03, 2017, from

http://healthresearchfunding.org/gender-identity-disorder-statistics/

25 Transgender People Who Influenced American Culture. (2014, May 29). Retrieved May 03, 2017,

from http://time.com/130734/transgender-celebrities-actors-athletes-in-america/

Laverne

Cox

Caitlyn

Jenner