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Is gender dysphoria a mental illness?

Even on a site such as this, I feel I must tip-toe while asking this question.
Even knowing I'm on an IDW site, the urge is just too much for me to not mention that I am not a bigot. I am in no way in favor of mistreating or bullying transgender people, or any people for that matter. I hope they are afforded the same rights as myself and everyone else. I am simply asking if it is a mental illness, as it used to be labeled. I am un-educated on this as well. What constitutes/defines mental illness? How does that differ/correlate to identifying with the opposite sex to which you were born?

DylanMc29 3 Feb 16
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I would say it is. It occurs within children who are born with specific genetalia or features (women develop breasts, men develop testicles) with which the individual deems wrong or uncomfortable. This assumes there is a level of gender discretion with one's psychological state, as one can physically be a female but have a "male" brain. Therefore, from my knowledge, the dysphoria evolves from the separation of physical and psychological sex, where the individual feels their gender and sex do not align. Therefore, it is a very unfortunate scenario and condition for the individual to endure. However, from my knowledge, it generally leads to the individual selecting a certain gender and sex and sticking with it, instead of becoming gender-fluid or non-binary.

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I believe it is. Gender dysphoria is in the DSM-5. It is Categorized as a mental disorder as long as the individual meets the criteria for a diagnosis.

You are getting to the heart of my confusion here. So gender dysphoria is listed in the DSM. How does gender dysphoria differ from a person whom was born a girl but has since transitioned to a man? Because I was under the impression that this used to be listed in the DSM but has since been removed. According to the DSM, is a transgender person considered to be suffering from a mental illness? Sorry, don't mean to throw all these questions at you.

@DylanMc29
It all depends on the individual. There is a criteria to meet for a mental health professional to diagnose someone. If the issue causes a person to be maladaptive, lack of proper function and/or a danger to oneself and others, they have a mental disorder. Not all transgender meet the criteria for gender dysphoria.

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There seems to be something inherently destabalizing about not being comfortable in ones own skin... whether it’s being uncomfortable with ones gender or any other immutable traits (I knew a man who went theough extreme surgical procedures to “become” a cat... he later took his own life). I don’t have high hopes for the long term mental health of those making the decision at very young ages to ultimately sterilize themselves, I believe there is a biological component to the desire to reproduce that most people experience later in life (the colloquially termed “biological clock” ) regardless of whether or not they believe it won’t affect them. I would hypothesize this can definitely affect depression and suicide rates and even be as bold as to state it’s, in many people, linked to a degree of feeling meaningfulness to life. I certainly wouldn’t claim this is definitely the case in all instances but I’d be confident in saying it will be for most and at the ages these things are now being considered the level of forethought required to know oneself in the moment as well as the desires of their future self is near impossible.

as an adendum this is not, by any means, my full and comprehensive view on the subject. I’d like to add that there are definitely fully confident and happy in their skin people who are just “born into the wrong sex” or seriously blur the lines. One of my good friends is one such person, if you met her you would swear she was a boy, looks like a boy, talks and acts like a boy, even has natural grown out facial hair. She is a lesbian and doesn’t identify as trans or anything other han herself and is a successful and confident human with no mental health issues I’ve witnessed, in fact very chill and laid back. I’m not sure where this fits in the discussion but I thought it worth mentioning.

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Thanks for all the comments. With admitting up front that my knowledge on this subject is novice at best, I tend to lean towards thinking that it is a mention illness similar to those already referenced. Having said that I would like to play devil's advocate and stir the pot if I may.....heads up Jordan Peterson fans.... If it is a mental illness, wouldn't that only strengthen the argument that special exceptions might need be made for these particular people who suffer from this mental illness (ie pronoun use)?.. interested for all of your thoughts. Thanks.

I would say we do more harm than good by playing along, This may be a poor example but if someone thinks they’re a bird I don't think we’d do well to encourage them to fly (if you do chise to encourage a trans bird to fly please have them at least start on the ground) I especially don’t think we should allow them to shift our reality with the made up pronoun game. I’m no psychiatrist myself but I’d have my doubts that we’d be better off catering to the fantasies of the delusional rather than helping them find and be comfortable in reality.

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Here's Dave Rubin interviewing sex researcher Debra Soh where she talked about gender dysphoria as an expert.

Thanks. Will definitely watch this. I'm not a huge Rubin fan to be honest, which is probably why I haven't seen it already. Nothing personal against Rubin, we tend to agree on most topics. Just not a fan of his style of show and interviewing. Still going to watch this clip tho... thanks again

@DylanMc29 you're welcome. I hope you do watch it. I've learned a lot from Rubin Report 🙂

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While I'm no expert on this topic, based on my observations over the years and direct interaction with a few transgender individuals, I'm inclined to believe it is a form of mental illness.

Really the words 'illness' and 'disorder' colloquially carries negative connotation. There is science behind it that should be medically addressed, but how it is addressed by society is more harmful due to stigma and general scientific illiteracy. I'm familiar enough to recognize distinctions, but not enough to be able to propose what is correct for the people affected.

@ProgenitorGnosis Regarding the negative connotation part, that may be so, but it's best to be honest though and that's how I view such. When one is not content with themselves, that's pretty much a negative thing. When it comes to a topic like this, there are no easy solutions. Perhaps instead of attaching labels to such individuals, the focus should be shifted on reaching out to these people to see if they need help in some way?

@SpikeTalon The problem is that some people claim it because it is trendy, while others suffer dysphoria for psychological reasons, and some have neurological differences. Too many of us aren't qualified to know the difference. Professionals with the equipment to diagnose should be able to call these things illness or disorder. I know I am not, I just know that people associate connotations and assumptions. We should be honest with the reality, but just as importantly recognize when we shouldn't hold an opinion and fall into dunning kruger. Falsifiable findings aren't common knowledge.

@ProgenitorGnosis While I'm fairly certain on my observations, I surely could be wrong. I understand where you're coming from.

@SpikeTalon Not necessarily, I'm only cautioning untrained diagnosis, as it is rather nuanced and ranged subject.

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While I don't think transgender is a mental illness, I don't think you're a bigot at all for asking this question. Transvender just rose to public awareness a few years ago and many of us still need education on it. I happen to work at a very "progressive" organization where I got training on this topic and I know a few transgender adults so I wouldn't call it a mental disorder. Some children experience gender dysphoria--and I think we will see more of this now that raising genderless children is a new trend...

If I may...what are your thoughts on raising gender neutral children?

@DylanMc29 I think it's silly. Children are highly suggestable and if their parents tell them there are more than two genders, they'll easily think they are of the other, the third, fourth, etc gender. I don't want to be judgemental, but I know a progressive couple who have a son under ten years old. He told his parents he's a girl a few years ago, and they started to raise him as a girl. Then a year later, he claimed he's gender neutral and wanted to be called ze, zer. I think his gender dysphoria may have something to do with the education he got from his parents. If we as a society encourage our children to choose their own gender, gender might sadly become a social construct as the progressives claim.

Stories of some heartbroken parents of self claimed transgender youth. We probably won't hear these stories from mainstream media.

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As Marcus said, gender dysphoria. The mind of one gender identity trapped in the biology of a different gender. I recall a class by Robert Sapolsky online Stanford course where he touches on the neurological composition being distinctly matched to the gender identity the subject associates with. Where as their body didn't match.

Although it isn't clear if the difference is made environmentally or genetically. What is very real is the despair with their reality. It isn't a choice for them as far as we can see, but the trouble they suffer is a choice society imposes on them.

I enjoyed the very little of Sapolsky that I've seen. See if I can't find the one you mentioned. However, even if the science is there with some identifier that can tell us exactly which people suffer from this and which of us don't, it still doesn't fall out of the mental illness classification to me. If anything, knowing we could see gender dysphoria by looking at a brain scan (which I know we obviously can't do) would only mean that we now have empirical proof that it is indeed a mental illness. Or that is how it seems to me.

I loved his stanford university series on behavioral biology.

@DylanMc29 Take a look at this, then tell me what you think:

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The illness is called Gender Dysphoria, as far as the specifics of it, I am not well read on the subject, but if it came down to it, I believe it is a form of mental illness, like depression, or anorexia.

That was the word I was looking for and corrected the question. Thanks

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