DSM-5: What's In, What's Out

[Flan]

DSM-5: What's In, What's Out
By John Gever, Senior Editor, MedPage Today

Published: May 10, 2012
http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/APA/32619
(this is part of the final public update before DSM-5 ships)

...

Gender identity disorder. Individuals who believe their biological gender doesn't match their gender identification will no longer be labeled with a disorder. Instead, if they seek psychiatric treatment, they can be labeled with "gender dysphoria."

The workgroup responsible for dealing with the hot-button issue considered a variety of other approaches, addressed later in this article. Ultimately they settled on a formal diagnosis -- potentially qualifying a patient for insurance-paid treatment if they want it -- but with a less pejorative name than "disorder."

my note: considering how many health insurance companies in the United States refuse to cover transition related care and surgery, there's no surprise they are using it as a cover to keep it as a diagnosis in the mental health section.

This isn't to say I disagree about the need for a solid diagnosis criteria, there just needs to be a better way then what is being done now so that low income persons won't be denied care because they can't afford a therapist to tell them what they already know inside.

[Butterflyhugs]

I think they compromised as well as could be expected for now.

The fact of the matter is that being trans typically requires medical care, and many insurances in the United States are just beginning to cover it. The current structure of medical billing necessitates a diagnosis, or "problem," to submit to insurance companies as reasoning for payment. Without a formal diagnosis anywhere else, there'd be no way to access trans related care via medical insurance.

I agree that low income people not being able to afford therapists for letters and such is a huge problem, but removing gender dysphoria from the DSM is not the way to go about fixing that problem. It would only cause more.