Mental Disorder or Medical Syndrome

[Emma_J]

There was a heated debate in the IRC chat one side saying that TS is a mental disorder and the other side saying it was a medical condition so i decided to put the matter to a vote and solicit a wider opinion. syndrome being a medical condition and Dysphoria and disorder mental.

[Emerald]

Emma-
Would you be so kind to add 'Gender Expression Deprivation Anxiety Disorder' (GEDAD) to the list of choices?

Thanks!
-Emerald 

[Lori]

Emma-
Would you be so kind to add 'Gender Expression Deprivation Anxiety Disorder' (GEDAD) to the list of choices?

Thanks!
-Emerald 

Yeah, gee dad, what happened?

[Kimberly]

If you were to name GID which term would you use

Benjamins syndrome

I think I like the syndrome the best as, as far as I can tell, it is most fitting. An it seems proper to credit Benjamin.

As for calling this condition a mental disorder... that is not the way to win my friendship.

Mind you, as much as this thing has (and does) muss up my life ... ^*shrug*

[cindianna_jones]

If I were to rename Gender Identity Disorder, I'd name it Gender Dysphoria.  It seems more appropriate to me.  But I agree with Tink.  We go with what the establishment uses to make life more simple.

Cindi

[Emma_J]

I usually go by what is listed on the DSM since this is the only official, recognized manual that gender therapists (are supposed to) use to diagnose GID.  Of course, you can always call it whatever you imagine it to be..........never mind.

but isn't that pandering to those that wish to discriminate against us by accepting your position and being thankfull for any crumbs they wish to throw from thier table ?

[Hazumu]

Because it's most common to hear GID, I believe it's a good idea to stick with or close to that.  But I make a habit of telling people I have been diagnosed with GID, Gender Identity Disphoria.  I think 'disorder' sounds like there's a problem that needs fixing, while 'disphoria' sounds more like something that, while its occurrence is rare, does not constitute a problem that needs fixing, only acknowledgment.

Yes, you could say this is wordsmithing, spin-doctoring, making politically correct language, etc.  But at least it gets me the chance to point out that, while TG is somewhat unusual, there's no harm in it.

At least, that's my reasoning (YMMV)...

Karen

[Thundra]

I vote to label it as a mental disorder, but subset under a form of anxiety. Most people I've seen suffer from this had no problems getting on in life except for the stress they suffered from being unable to find a place they fit in. Which led to anxiety and panic attacks in many cases. Put a person on HRT and give them surgery, and the attacks seem to go away for most people. That's good enough for me.

[Renae.Lupini]

being transgender is not a mental disorder of any kind. If anyone does some research on how gender is determined during prenatal development, they will see that is entirely possible for any one of a number of scenarios play out after the child is born. We are considered to have mental disorders because that is what the puritanical shrinks thought back in the day. Since that was the word of a few folks with degrees it was accepted as the truth. Now we get to be labeled as something that still keeps us emotionally distraught as a community because people refuse to believe us when we say we were born this way.


My $.02

[rhonda13000]

Unequivocally, medical anomaly.

I have experienced too much hard empirical evidence, to conclude otherwise.

It's been a bitch.

[katia]

what is wrong with being mentally insane?  do you honestly think that "healthy" people go about cutting off their genitalia, attempting suicide, living in a horrid state of depression or hating themselves?  do you get the joke?     probably not.  i have a very dark sense of humor or so i've been told.

gid, that's what three psychiatrists diagnosed me with.

[Thundra]

Unequivocally, medical anomaly.

Yesee, that is what I always assumed? But then, I ask this question, and I always get the opposite answer I expect if it is simply a medical problem. A medical problem is fixed thru drugs (HRT) and surgery (SRS). But, if you were given HRT and then SRS, would you be happy if you did not change your gender role too? Most people would not seem to be from my observations.

It seems to me there is definitely a stress related disorder that comes from people not being able to be seen in the gender role of their choice. HRT and SRS enable people to reach that goal, but SRS and HRT do not seem to mitigate the problem of and by themselves.

As someone that has a very fluid gender role in society, changing a gender role has never seemed a necessity for me, or for many other queer people. We are more comfortable existing outside of the confines of the rigid roles established for the two gender types over millennia.
But transgendered people have a real problem existing outside of those walls, feeling most uncomfortable if not accepted as they so deign themselves to be.

If there is a mental incapacitation that occurs in transgendered people, it seems to be that
the world views sex and gender as the same, whereas transgendered people do not ascribe to that idear. At least not until they go thru HRT and SRS, as prescribed. So maybe gender dysphoria is a label created by the non-trans population to explain something that they don't understand, or cannot comprehend.

[cindianna_jones]

but isn't that pandering to those that wish to discriminate against us by accepting your position and being thankfull for any crumbs they wish to throw from thier table ?

Sometimes it's much better to have a few crumbs than nothing at all.  I live in one the States which has had specific laws to protect TS individuals from discrimination.  This law didn't go into effect until 2003, but what about before that time?  what did TS people use to do then?  well, they took advantage of those crumbs and used them to their benefit claiming handicapped status, receiving public benefits, obtaining protective status in employment, housing, ect....all this because of their mental disorder.


tink

Dayam Tink!  I wish I would have known that!  Maybe I could have made life a little easier for myself   Actually, I'm very happy I didn't need that sort of help.  I managed on my own somehow.  Sometimes I don't know how... but I did.

I have always done a bit of wordsmithing with the SRS thang.  When confronting a doctor for the first time, I tell them that I had GRS. Then they ask "what's that?"  And I respond with "Gender Reassignment Surgery."  And when they still have a blank stare on their face, I finally relent and just mutter "sex change operation."  It might be easier just to tell them that in the first place, no?

Cindi

[rhonda13000]

what is wrong with being mentally insane?  do you honestly think that "healthy" people go about cutting off their genitalia, attempting suicide, living in a horrid state of depression or hating themselves?  do you get the joke?     probably not.  i have a very dark sense of humor or so i've been told.

gid, that's what three psychiatrists diagnosed me with.

This is all historical fact, except for the hatred portion. In general, I hated my life and not myself.

And through this and.....other things which have occurred during my transition/healing, I have been seen by numerous psychiatrists and counselors, and not one judged me as being possessed of mental defect.

In fact, after a certain auto-surgery was accomplished and I voluntarily went to the hospital for prophylactic anti-biotic treatment and was admitted, I took an opportunity to read my chart.

It said,


"Patient is transsexual/GID."
"Patient is highly intelligent and knowledgeable."
"Psych consult not indicated."


I have never been more sane in all of my life, than I am now.

I have a serotonin issue and it is indeed, being treated; has been treated over a number of years, but the remediation of this condition did little to stanch or attenuate the relentless harassment of my TS.

The only remediative or palliative 'treatment' of that which has tortured me for so many years, has been transition and HRT.

The mere fact that staggering and vast improvements in cognitive and emotional processing were observed after the initiation of hormonal correction [HRT and surgery], speaks volumes.

I was astounded.

[TheBattler]

This is all historical fact, except for the hatred portion. In general, I hated my life and not myself.

And through this and.....other things which have occurred during my transition/healing, I have been seen by numerous psychiatrists and counselors, and not one judged me as being possessed of mental defect.

In fact, after a certain auto-surgery was accomplished and I voluntarily went to the hospital for prophylactic anti-biotic treatment and was admitted, I took an opportunity to read my chart.

It said,


"Patient is transsexual/GID."
"Patient is highly intelligent and knowledgeable."
"Psych consult not indicated."


I have never been more sane in all of my life, than I am now.

I have a serotonin issue and it is indeed, being treated; has been treated over a number of years, but the remediation of this condition did little to stanch or attenuate the relentless harassment of my TS.

The only remediative or palliative 'treatment' of that which has tortured me for so many years, has been transition and HRT.

The mere fact that staggering and vast improvements in cognitive and emotional processing were observed after the initiation of hormonal correction [HRT and surgery], speaks volumes.

I was astounded.

Thats so nice rhonda. I have always thought there was something within HRT that our body needed (yes most probably E). Everyone always has said that once they gone on HRT there mental state improves. I am so glad iot worked for you.

Alice

[Jillieann Rose]

In the central nervous system, serotonin is believed to play an important role in the regulation of anger, aggression, body temperature, mood, sleep, vomiting, sexuality, and appetite. Low levels of serotonin may be associated with several disorders, namely increase in aggressive and angry behaviors, clinical depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, tinnitus, fibromyalgia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders[citation needed] and intense religious experiences[1].

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin
Very intresting Rhonda.

[Lucy]

I have to put a word into this thred because it is a question i oftern ask my self. I have had it from a very earley age and think im insane. I am a woman traped in a mans body. I have no gender role but wish people could see who i am. I hate my body and wish i could chang it. I havnt voted cus i cant and dont know the awnser

[Kate]

I can't really win here...

It needs to be a medical/mental problem in order to get medical treatments, so it ends up being a "disorder." But it's not a disorder, IMHO.

And personally, I resent the whole idea of classifying this at all. I know it's a necessary evil in our society, but the whole thing is driven by the fact society thinks we're nuts, as no one in their right mind would want to, omg, change their sex! It MUST be a mental disorder, or it must be a hormonal imbalance in the womb, or...

Hey, I need to be a girl. Sue me. I actually don't believe it's a medical condition at all. Or a mental one. It just IS. But don't tell society that or they'll take my hormones away

I wanna see "Hair Pigment Dysphoria" in the new DSM or SOC. The idea that someone would want to change the colour of the hair they were born with, which their chromosomes dictated, just because they'd feel more like themselves... is just crazy! It must be a faulty gene somewhere, or a mental disorder, or... see what I mean?

But, I'll pick Gender Dysphoria... as it's not a disorder or syndrome - I'm just not happy with my assigned gender role/body.

~Kate~

[Renae.Lupini]

The hormones could still be prescribed to counter a "chemical imbalance" from not having the proper organs to produce them. It is all about semantics.

[togetherwecan]

I believe it is a medical condition not a mental defect.