My comment there:
Forgive me if I go on a rant but reading all this psychobabble these so called experts (many of whom have never lived a day as a transgender person) spew out in an attempt to establish criteria to help them label as "mentally disordered persons" those who have a mind-body gender conflict, rubs me the wrong way.
The goal always seems to be determining what is normal, and too often that means sameness. And in the case of gender variance, that's exactly the goal mental health professionals have strived to achieve. We are all unique, even identical twins, who usually differ the most in their personalities – the mind. So I find it laughable when mental health "experts" focus on normal as it relates to sameness. That's not sound thinking.
I can function well in society. I'm reasonably intelligent, skilled in my profession and have very good people skills. I can do quite well as long as people with phobias about transgender people don't discriminate against me. I don't need therapy to understand myself, I need therapy to learn how to deal with people who are phobic and impair my ability to have a decent life. And before I honor their requests to go into therapy for being transgender, I will ask them first to enter into therapy to deal with their phobias. After all, phobia is a mental disorder and it too is in the DSM.
While I'm happy to see the "exit clause" I find it interesting that treating the physical self, not the mind, is the "cure". I will now be able to say, "I used to be mentally disordered then I had vaginoplasty and now I'm not." What's wrong with this picture? I can see it, why can't these so called experts?
This draft for DSM-V still hangs onto the idea there is a mental disorder diagnosis for someone who is unhappy society has pressured them to live a life they aren't happy living, rather than the one they want (and will harm no one). The intent seems to be on addressing societal phobias and not upsetting the masses who are phobic. The message sent: "I'm really not happy with the way you are living your life, even though it harms no one, so you'll just have to change." That's not a reasonable request (demand). And if they think it is, I'd suggest they enter into therapy because they are the ones suffering from a mental disorder.
