TransActive Fully Endorses Statement by "Professionals Concerned About Gender Diagnoses in the DSM"

April 13, 2010 - PRLog -- Statement on Gender Incongruence in Adolescents in the DSM-5

We are mental health and medical professionals, clinicians, researchers and scholars concerned about psychiatric nomenclature and diagnostic criteria for gender-variant, gender-nonconforming, transgender and transsexual people in the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), and call ourselves Professionals Concerned About Gender Diagnoses in the DSM. Below are our suggestions for the diagnosis of Gender Incongruence (in Adolescents) in the DSM 5.

Our group recommends a separate diagnostic category for adolescents. Adolescent issues are markedly different from those facing pre-pubescent children and those experienced by adults. Adolescent sexual and gender development are complex processes (Pleak 2009; Striepe & Tolman 2003) and should be clearly separated out with the DSM from the presenting issues of prepubescent children and/or adults.

We recognize that gender dysphoria in youth is a serious issue and may require medical intervention (Spack, 2009), as well as therapeutic support. For those youth who identify as transgender or transsexual, or who express gender dysphoria and discomfort with their anatomical body, early intervention can alleviate future difficulties, and can assist young people to mature in their affirmed gender identity (Cooper 1999). This is consistent with the American Psychological Association’s goal of promoting “legal and social recognition of transgender individuals with their gender identity and expression” (APA 2009, para. 18) and is especially important for adolescents who typically lack the resources and authority to achieve this goal without clinician assistance.

To read the full statement by Professionals Concerned About Gender Diagnoses in the DSM" visit: http://www.transactiveonline.org/news/press_releases/pr_0...

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