Gender dysphoria GD is the distress a person experiences due to a mismatch between their gender identity —their personal sense of their own gender —and their sex assigned at birth. The condition was renamed to remove the stigma associated with the term disorder. People with gender dysphoria commonly identify as transgender. The causes of gender incongruence are unknown but a gender identity likely reflects genetic, biological, environmental, and cultural factors. Some researchers and transgender people argue for the declassification of the condition because they say the diagnosis pathologizes gender variance and reinforces the binary model of gender.
No particular sexual orientation indicates gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria in those assigned male at birth AMAB tends to follow one of two broad trajectories: early-onset or late-onset. Early-onset gender dysphoria is behaviorally visible in childhood but may temporarily subside, leading the person to identify as gay or homosexual for a period of time, followed by recurrence of gender dysphoria.
A review in the Archives of Sexual Behavior states this group is usually sexually attracted to members of their natal sex in adulthood, commonly identifying as heterosexual. Late-onset gender dysphoria does not include visible signs in early childhood, but some report having had wishes to be the opposite sex in childhood that they did not report to others. Symptoms of GD in children include preferences for opposite sex-typical toys, games, activities, or playmates as well as a great dislike of their own genitalia.
The specific causes of gender dysphoria remain unknown, and treatments targeting the etiology or pathogenesis of gender dysphoria do not exist. The American Psychiatric Association permits a diagnosis of gender dysphoria in adolescents or adults if two or more of the following criteria are experienced for at least six months' duration: [25].
In addition, the condition must be associated with clinically significant distress or impairment. The DSM-5 moved this diagnosis out of the sexual disorders category and into a category of its own. The diagnosis for children was separated from that for adults, as " gender dysphoria in children ". The creation of a specific diagnosis for children reflects the lesser ability of children to have insight into what they are experiencing, or ability to express it if they have insight.
