(November 21, 2024 at 7:20 am)Paleophyte Wrote:(November 21, 2024 at 6:15 am)Sheldon Wrote: There is a clear diagnosis for gender dysphoria included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), a manual published by the American Psychiatric Association.
So it's not a purely subjective claim, anymore than someone claiming to be gay is a purely subjective claim, it can be objectively tested, and homosexuality was also classified as a mental disorder until fairly recently, hopefully this will change for gender dysphoria as well, but its existence is objectively evidenced.
Actually, it already has. According to the current version of the DSM-5 "It is important to note that gender nonconformity is not in itself a mental disorder." The disorder that commonly arises in gender dysphoria is a result of the stress produced when a person's experienced gender doesn't match with societal and cultural expectations. Or in simpler terms, society is the problem and we're sorry that you need a therapist to deal with it.
That's good to know. I'm glad that the professionals are coming around.
Psychiatry is notoriously subjective in its diagnoses. The fact that something can be a disorder one year and not one the next is a little troubling.
I know a psychiatrist in the US who works in a big hospital. One of her duties is to interview patients who are seeking gender reassignment surgery. Her job is NOT to determine what gender the person really is, but simply to say if the person is in a sufficiently rational and calm state of mind to make a big decision. After all, there are manic-depressives who can decide things in a manic phase which they wouldn't decide at other times. During the manic state it's dangerous for them to have access to a credit card, much less major surgery.
She tells me that in a very small number of cases she has recommended that the person not be approved for the surgery yet. She has recommended a longer waiting period and further counseling. But she says that in every such case the patient has simply gone to a different psychiatrist and gotten the answer they want. So apparently even professional opinions of this type are not cut-and-dried, but include a large subjective element.
