Gender Dysphoria
Do You Have It?
What is Gender Dysphoria?
What are some symptoms of Gender Dysphoria?
1. A clear difference between the assigned sex and gender expression of a person.
2. A strong urge to remove ones assigned sex characteristics, because they don't align with the gender a person identifies with.
3. An intense urge to possess the opposite gender's sexual characteristics.
4. A strong yearning to be the other gender.
5. The want to be treated as the opposite gender.
6. The feeling that your thoughts and actions better reflect the opposite gender better than your assigned gender. (DSM5.org, 2014)
If you have any two of the above symptoms lasting for over 6 months, you might have Gender Dysphoria.
Possible Causes of Gender Dysphoria
Methods of Treatment
Myths and Misconceptions
Myth- Gender is the same as biological assigned sex. Fact- Gender is how a person views themselves as male or female, a persons biological assigned sex is determined by what sex organs they are born with such as ovaries or testes. (Nolen-Hokesema, 2014)
Myth- Gender Dysphoria and transvestic disorder are the same. Fact- A person with transvestic disorder usually does not wish to change their gender, but dresses in the opposite sex clothing to become sexually aroused. A person with gender dysphoria does not dress in opposite sex clothing because it sexually arouses them, they do so because their gender aligns better with the opposite sex and they wish to become that. (Nolen-Hokesema, 2014)
Possible questions for your doctor
2. How long until a diagnosis can be made?
3. What are the side effects of treatment?
4. If surgery were done, how long does it take to recover?
5. How to start the legal process of changing you gender
Helpful Resources
Goaffirmations.org - LGBTQ Community Center and Resource Center
Equalitymi.org - Michigan's LGBTQ Advocacy Group
Transgendermichigan.org - Transgender Advocacy and Resource Center
References
Gender Dysphoria. (2014, February 24). In National Library of Medicine . Retrieved September 15, 2014, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001527.htm
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2014) (Abnormal psychology (6th ed.) New York, N.Y. McGraw-hill
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