Being transgender could be removed from the list of mental disorders

[traci_k]

Being transgender could be removed from the list of mental disorders 

http://www.nydailynews.com/amp/life-style/health/transgender-removed-mental-disorders-list-article-1.2727077

NY Daily News
Nicole Lyn Pesce
Jul 27, 2016 6:00 AM

The medical community is one step closer to accepting that transgender men and women are in their right minds.

New evidence published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal on Tuesday supports no longer classifying transgender identity as a mental disorder under the World Health Organization and the American Psychiatric Association's
rubrics.
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[Dee Marshall]

As usual, a news story oversimplifies. It's true that WHO still classifies us as mentally ill, but the APA's DSM5 doesn't, it says we can have gender dysphoria, a condition unique to us, just as it says that gays can have dysphoria about being gay. Not the same thing at all. Funny they never classified a similar condition for teenagers. All of these are defined as chronic unhappiness due to unreasonable requirements placed upon us by society. Our differences leave us open to the conditions, but don't guarantee them.

[SiobhánF]

It would still be great if the WHO would remove it from their list of mental illnesses, though. I don't want to be labeled as having a mental illness when it's not one, even though the APA's DSM has been changed to reflect that it isn't.

[Rhonda Lynn]

I remember a time when being gay was considered a mental disorder (or worse). It seems almost strange now that gays are now viewed by most people as a minority group who just happen to be different. Will we someday be viewed this way?

[Michelle_P]

Yah.  It turns out that fear of rejection by society and fear of being assaulted by strangers aren't symptoms of mental illness, when we actually are at risk of being rejected by society and are at risk of assault from strangers.

Darnedest thing...

My biggest fear right now is that in spite of the DSM-V changes and the coming WHO changes, we may see legislation overriding the manuals and APA/WPATH guidelines.   At least one faction wants a change:

We support the right of parents to determine the proper treatment or therapy, for their minor children.

It sounds so harmless, doesn't it?  There is an agenda at work here.  That one is aimed at involuntary committment of persons to conversion or reparative therapy, treatments that have been rejected by APA and other professional groups as little more than torture and banned in a few places.  There's also a push for US federal legislation to override bans on these therapies in some states.

Unfortunately, this could result in bringing back the Good Old Days for treatment of folks like me.  When I was 15, and expressing my discomfort with my gender, my folks were offered the option of state of the art treatment for me; electro-convulsive therapy combined with Faradic or chemical aversion therapy.  They opted to go with the testosterone injections instead.  :p

"So, you say you want to be a woman?  Well, we'll fix you right up.  Just sit down here.  Yes, put your arms on the rests.  No, the straps are just for your safety.  Now, I'm going to put these electrodes on your temples.  Bite on this.  When I flip this switch, why, you'll be right as rain..."

Do.  Not.  Want.

It's nice that they are changing their guidelines and all, but we have this nasty habit of legislating medical practice in the US.  Look at what ciswomen have to deal with on some issues.

[Anne Blake]

Greetings All,

Please help out a not so politically savvy old lady. I have some idea of some of the implications of transgender labels and dysphoria vs disorder vs illness. But how might this affect us in our daily lives. I am perhaps foolishly assuming that we will not be involuntarily dragged in for electroshock therapy. I have to believe that the US has become too enlightened to make that big and horrendous a step backwards (but then I never would have believed that Trump and Hilary would make it this far either)   My biggest daily concern is will I still be able to get insurance coverage and continued Medicare coverage for meds and services? How will this removal of tg from the list of mental disorders affect our daily lives? And please forgive my naiveté.

Anne

[Michelle_P]

In the United States, coverage for transgender related treatment is required by Health and Human Services regulations enabled by the nondiscrimination provisions under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.  The regulations apply to insurance companies and third party administrators that receive federal funds.  You should be able to get insurance coverage fairly easily for medications and services within the United States.  Naturally, the same rules apply to Medicare and Medicare Advantage providers.

(I used to be a moderator on another message board involving retirement issues.  Coverage provisions were constantly being discussed there, and one of my activities was conducting reality checks.  )

This said, we are basically one HHS regulation tweak, executive order, or act of Congress from losing coverage, so it does require us to pay attention unless we are in a position to cover our care out of pocket.  The changes to the WHO documents, like the DSM changes, provides an opportunity for all parties to re-open discussions on care and coverage requirements.

[Rhonda Lynn]

Yah.  It turns out that fear of rejection by society and fear of being assaulted by strangers aren't symptoms of mental illness, when we actually are at risk of being rejected by society and are at risk of assault from strangers.

Darnedest thing...

My biggest fear right now is that in spite of the DSM-V changes and the coming WHO changes, we may see legislation overriding the manuals and APA/WPATH guidelines.   At least one faction wants a change:
It sounds so harmless, doesn't it?  There is an agenda at work here.  That one is aimed at involuntary committment of persons to conversion or reparative therapy, treatments that have been rejected by APA and other professional groups as little more than torture and banned in a few places.  There's also a push for US federal legislation to override bans on these therapies in some states.

Unfortunately, this could result in bringing back the Good Old Days for treatment of folks like me.  When I was 15, and expressing my discomfort with my gender, my folks were offered the option of state of the art treatment for me; electro-convulsive therapy combined with Faradic or chemical aversion therapy.  They opted to go with the testosterone injections instead.  :p

"So, you say you want to be a woman?  Well, we'll fix you right up.  Just sit down here.  Yes, put your arms on the rests.  No, the straps are just for your safety.  Now, I'm going to put these electrodes on your temples.  Bite on this.  When I flip this switch, why, you'll be right as rain..."

Do.  Not.  Want.

It's nice that they are changing their guidelines and all, but we have this nasty habit of legislating medical practice in the US.  Look at what ciswomen have to deal with on some issues.

You are right Michelle. It is frightening to contemplate.

I do remember hearing about aversion therapy back in the 80s. And when I came out to some friends who were fundamentalist Christian types, at least one suggested that I look into "alternatives" like that.    His opinion was that anything was better than the choice I was making.

I know that some chose this treatment out of desperation. For me, even if I thought that it would work - which I didn't - at the core, I didn't really want to let someone change who I was. It felt like asking someone to cut out a part of my soul.

Now that I see teenage TG people on Youtube, I'm a bit amazed. I fear for them when I realize that they don't have the legal rights of adults. In theory, it would be so easy for laws to be passed in which their parents could subject them to terrible things to try to "make them normal."