Gender Dysphoria In Children, Adolescents and Adults

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Gender Dysphoria in children, adolescents and adults I. What is Gender Dysphoria? It is important to understand the difference between gender and sex. The English language defines “sex” by using the anatomy that an individual is born with. In other words, the reproductive organs that makes someone female or male. “Sex” also includes the chromosomes that someone obtains to make them male or female, the different gonads, sex hormones and the inner and outer genitalia. When defining gender dysphoria and its connection to sex. Within the gender dysphoria disorder, which is a sex disorder, there are other developments that affect the normal and natural indications of each sex assignments. The use of “cross-sex” hormones, are very popular when someone is trying to masculinize or feminize the individuals original gender. According to the DSM-5, gender dysphoria is “the distress that may accompany the incongruence between one’s experienced or expressed gender and one’s assigned gender” (American Psychological Association, 2013). Even though studies have shown that not every individual suffers from distress, it is still possible that an individual might suffers from distress due to the hormonal treatment or surgical procedure(s). In the past, gender dysphoria has been referred to as “gender identity”. However, gender identity, by the DSM-IV definition is “a category of social identity and refers to an individual’s identification as male, female, or occasionally, some category other than male or female” (American Psychological Association, 2000). Individuals that identify themselves with another gender tend to change their sex, which has been proven to be a hard and long process. II. Procedures, Outcomes, and Effects Studies hav... ... middle of paper ... ...s. However, why should people that feel a certain way be discriminated and exiled for not fitting into the categories step in place. Works Cited Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., Schagen, S. E., Steensma, T. D., Vries, A. L., & Waal, H. A. (2011). Puberty Suppression in a Gender-Dysphoric Adolescent: A 22-Year Follow-Up. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40(4), 843-847. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. (5th ed.). (2013). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR. (4th ed.). (2000). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. Gender dysphoria . (n.d.). Gender dysphoria. Retrieved April 1, 2014, from http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Gender-dysphoria/Pages/Introduction.aspx Shainess, N. (1969). The formation of gender identity. Journal of Sex Research, 5(2), 75-85.

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