What is gender dysphoria? • hello healthy

Gender dysphoria (gender dysphoria), formerly known as gender identity disorder, is a condition that affects people known as transgender, where a person experiences discomfort or distress because there is a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity.

Quoted from WebMD, the biological sex a person gets at birth depends on the appearance of his or her genitalia. However, gender identity is a gender identity that the individual believes and believes in. For example, a person who has a penis and other physical characteristics that represent men, will generally identify himself as a man.

However, although a person's biological gender and gender identity may be compatible for most people, this is not certain for others. Some people may have the physical characteristics of men, but feel and believe themselves to be a woman, while others may feel they are both or do not feel that they are 100 percent female or male only (regardless of physical appearance), aka genderqueer .

What causes gender dysphoria?

Gender dysphoria is a real medical condition that is recognized by American Psychiatric Association , and in certain cases medical treatment is required. However, gender dysphoria is not a mental illness.

Reporting from News Medical, a number of studies indicate that this condition is not only caused by inconsistencies in the work of the brain, but can be caused by biological causes related to the development of gender identity before birth.

Gender dysphoria may be caused by a rare medical condition, such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia (congenital adrenal hyperplasia / CAH), and the intersex condition (also known as hermaphroditism).

In CAH, a female fetus has adrenal glands that produce high levels of male sex hormones that make the vagina swell, so it can be misunderstood to be seen as a boy.

Intersex or hermaphroditism is a rare condition in which a baby is born with two genitals, a vagina and a penis. In this case, after the prohibition of genital normalization procedures without the consent of the owner of the body by the United Nations, the child will be allowed to develop with both genitals until they are old enough to choose one, and undergo surgical operations.

Even so, more research is needed to be able to determine the cause of gender dysphoria.

Signs and symptoms of gender dysphoria

According to a psychiatric guidebook Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), for a person to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria, there must be a marked difference between the gender one believes in and the gender that other people perceive, and it must be sustained for at least six months. In children, the desire to change gender must be real and visible and expressed directly from the individual.

The real desires and beliefs referred to above are not only the desire to gain social and cultural benefits from the different sexes, but come from within on the basis of the belief that they should not belong to a certain gender group, and show consistent attitudes and behaviors from opposite gender.

Gender dysphoria is manifested in many ways, including a persistent desire to live and be treated as the gender they believe in, eliminating and / or changing their sexual characteristics, or a strong belief that they have feelings, behavior patterns, and general reactions to gender opposing himself.

Some transgender people choose to undergo medical therapy (hormones or surgery) to make their physical appearance more consistent with their gender identity.

According to the NHS Choices, it is not known exactly how many people have gender dysphoria, as many people who have the condition have never and / or been able to seek help. A survey of 10 thousand people conducted by Equality and Human Rights Commission 2012, found that one percent of the world's total population is transgender and genderqueer, to some extent.

Not infrequently, transgender people suffer from depression and experience isolation

Gender dysphoria causes pressure or clinical depression in social, work, or other fields that can hinder the quality of life of the individual with it.

The impact of the disorder can be so broad that the person's mental life is centered around a certain number of activities that can reduce the stress caused by the gender stigma they face. People with gender dysphoria are often preoccupied with appearances, especially at the beginning of the transition to life with their “new” gender. Relationships with parents may also be very disturbed. It is not uncommon for transgender people or people with gender dysphoria to receive isolation from family and friends.

Some men with gender dysphoria choose to undergo illegal treatment with hormones or may, although very rarely, perform castration independently without a doctor's supervision. Many transgender people are also involved in prostitution, putting them at high risk for HIV infection.

Mismatch between gender and gender identity experienced by a person with gender dysphoria can cause stress, nervousness, and prolonged depression. Attempted suicide and substance and drug abuse are common among people with gender dysphoria and / or transgender people.

Some adult males have a history of fetishism and other paraphilia. Related personality disorders are more common in men with gender dysphoria than in women.