Imagine living in a body with which you do not feel identified. Most people are comfortable with given sex, but what happens if that doesn’t happen? Given this feeling of not feeling identified with the biological body and the discomfort that this may entail, we find gender dysphoria. From , we want to offer a little more information for all those people who may be interested in knowing a little more about What is gender dysphoria, its symptoms and causes.
What is gender dysphoria?
Gender dysphoria is understood as lack of congruence between the sex of the person and what the person feels or expresses. That is, I may be a man because my genitals indicate so, but I feel like a woman. This causes discomfort for the person. It should be noted that gender dysphoria is independent of the pattern of sexual arousal; just because you are a man and feel like a woman, you do not have to be attracted to men.
Gender dysphoria and DSM V
Is gender dysphoria a disorder? Gender dysphoria is a new DSM-V category. Previously, in the DSM-IV-TR it was in the category of sexual and sexual identity disorders. This has been modified, since the emphasis has been placed on gender congruence. Different criteria are included, as we will see later, depending on age.
This sex-gender incongruence affects on average 1 in every 30,000 men and 1 in every 100,000 women. The main characteristics of gender dysphoria are:
- The feeling of discomfort with one’s own genitals and the desire to free oneself from one’s own sex and live as a member of the other sex.
- Strong desire to belong to the other sex and to eliminate primary sexual characteristics (genital organs) and secondary: breasts, widening of the hips in women, periods, pubic hair. In men, the tone of voice is deeper and the size of the genital organs increases.
- Desire to live and be treated like a person of the opposite sex.
- The desire its permanent in time, it must be present for a minimum of 6 months.
- The desire generates discomfort important in the person.
Symptoms of gender dysphoria
Apart from the characteristics mentioned above, gender dysphoria can present different symptoms depending on age.
In children there is a marked incongruence between the sex one feels and expresses with the one assigned to you associated with a powerful desire to belong to the other sex that is manifested, in the case of children (assigned sex) by a strong preference for cross-dressing or actions associated with the female gender.
In the case of girls (assigned sex), there is a preference to dress only in clothes considered boyish and a clear resistance or opposition to wearing clothes considered feminine (skirts, dresses, etc.). Furthermore, they also express the desire to want to be part of the other sex and insist on playing the role that society considers to be the other sex.
To be considered gender dysphoria, this non-belonging to the sex one wants with the one one has must be associated with significant discomfort, social and school deterioration or in other important areas in the child’s life.
As a summary, the main symptoms that we find in gender dysphoria are the following:
In the kids
- Feeling that the penis is horrible.
- Rejection of games more typical of the male gender.
in girls
- Feeling that it would be better to have a penis.
- Preference for toys considered masculine.
- Refusal to urinate sitting.
Parents tend to consult more about feminine behaviors in their sons than about masculine behaviors in their daughters.
In adolescents and adults, in addition to being able to find all the previous characteristics, we also find rejection and anguish before the appearance of secondary characters.
Difference between gender dysphoria and transgender
Transgender people do not identify with their biological sex. They want to live and be accepted as members of the opposite sex. For example: a transgender woman is a man at a morphological level, since she has the primary characteristics of a man, but she recognizes herself as a woman. We talk about gender dysphoria when, in addition to not identifying with your biological sex, it appears accompanied by: anxiety, discomfort and strong rejection made the body itself. Therefore, the difference between gender dysphoria and transgender is that in the former there are anxious symptoms and psychological discomfort.
Causes of gender dysphoria
To date, the causes of gender dysphoria are not known. It is believed that different factors may intervene: genes, hormones and culture and environment.
At a biological level, the brains of men and women have small differences, often due to the different hormones we secrete. In studies done with rodents, to study sexual dimorphism and establish a hypothesis about the causes, it was seen that the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis was larger or smaller depending on testosterone levels. That means that the core in men will be larger than in women. From here, it was extracted that people who present gender dysphoria have that core more similar to the opposite sex.
Even so, it should be noted that to this day the exact causes remain unknown and that all information is hypotheses.
Treatment of gender dysphoria
Due to different social and family pressures, it is common to find effects on the mental health of the person with gender dysphoria. For this, psychological support is important in all stages and possible treatments that we will see below.
How to help someone with gender dysphoria? To treat gender dysphoria, it is essential to have a team of specialists multidisciplinary (endocrinologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc.). The goal of treatment is to help the person with gender dysphoria overcome the distress they feel. In many cases, this includes helping the person transition to the gender with which they identify.
Lines of intervention
What lines of intervention can we find in the face of gender dysphoria?
- Psychological and medical support to the person to help understand their feelings, provide support, and find coping strategies. here you can see more information about .
- Hormone therapywith sexual lasts.
- Surgery sex change. In the case of the operation, the person must have undergone hormonal treatments and have lived according to the gender with which they identify for at least a year before performing the surgery.
- Family and couple support to help reduce conflicts and provide a climate of support in the situation.
Here you can read.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- American Psychiatric Association. Gender dysphoria. In: American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. 2013:451-460.
- Belloch, A., Sandín, B., Ramos, F. (2008). Manual of psychopathology. Madrid: McGraw Hill.