Gender dysphoria
| Gender dysphoria | |
|---|---|
| Specialty | Psychiatry, psychology |
| Symptoms | Distress related to one's assigned gender, sex or sex characteristics |
| Complications | Eating disorders, suicide, depression, anxiety, social isolation |
| Differential diagnosis | Variance in gender identity or expression that is not distressing, psychotic disorders, body dysmorphic disorder, autism spectrum disorder, transvestic disorder |
| Treatment | Transitioning, psychotherapy |
| Medication | Hormones (e.g., androgens, antiandrogens, estrogens) |
| Gender incongruence | |
|---|---|
| Specialty | Sexual health |
| Symptoms | A marked and persistent incongruence between an individual's experienced gender and the assigned sex, which often leads to a desire to 'transition' |
| Differential diagnosis | Gender variant behavior and preferences alone are not a basis for assigning the diagnosis |
| Treatment | Gender-affirming care |
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| Transgender topics |
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Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to inconsistency between their gender identity—their personal sense of their own gender—and their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender identity disorder (GID) in 2013 with the release of the diagnostic manual DSM-5. The condition was renamed to remove the stigma associated with the term disorder. The International Classification of Diseases uses the term gender incongruence (GI) instead of gender dysphoria, defined as a marked and persistent mismatch between gender identity and assigned gender, regardless of distress or impairment. Not all transgender people have gender dysphoria. Gender nonconformity is not the same thing as gender dysphoria and does not always lead to dysphoria or distress. In pre-pubertal youth, the diagnoses are gender dysphoria in childhood and gender incongruence of childhood. The causes of gender incongruence are unknown but a gender identity likely reflects genetic, biological, environmental, and cultural factors.
Diagnosis can be given at any age, although gender dysphoria in children and adolescents may manifest differently than in adults. Complications may include anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. Treatment for gender dysphoria includes social transitioning and often includes hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or gender-affirming surgeries, and psychotherapy.
Some researchers and transgender people argue for the declassification of the condition because they say the diagnosis pathologizes gender variance and reinforces the binary model of gender. However, this declassification could carry implications for healthcare accessibility, as HRT and gender-affirming surgery could be deemed cosmetic by insurance providers, as opposed to medically necessary treatment, thereby affecting coverage.