Diagnostic and treatment issues for people with gender dysphoria in the United Kingdom
Abstract
This editorial is focused on the diagnostic and treatment issues for people with gender dysphoria in the United Kingdom. Terminology and diagnosis are important elements in the provision of clinical care which can offer a mutual language and framework, both clinical and bureaucratic, within which we can expediently work together for the benefit of our clients. The DSM-5 claims to avoid stigma and ensure clinical care for individuals who see and feel themselves to be a different gender than which they were assigned at birth. It makes several important clarifications in the criteria, chief of which is arguably the replacement of the diagnostic name Gender Identity Disorder with Gender Dysphoria. Clinicians from all disciplines within the United Kingdom, whether psychology, psychiatry, endocrinology, surgery, etc., are increasingly questioning the veracity of mental health diagnoses for trans people and, fortunately the World Health Organization (WHO) holds a similar view. The practice guideline in this issue is a shorter and more practical document than the Standards of Care (SoC), although its content remains analogous to, and in the spirit of, the UK SoC. As adherence to the legislative and existing clinical frameworks causes severe stress and anxiety in some patients, clinicians can be positioned such that they are unable to follow the bioethical principle of non-maleficence; this alone supports the argument that these frameworks ought to be critically appraised, further developed, and amended as evidence and clinical experience evolve. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Citations
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Date
2013
Type
Article
Subject
Gender identity, Depression, Diagnosis, Mental health
Collections
Citation
Bouman, W. P. & Richards, C. (2013). Diagnostic and treatment issues for people with gender dysphoria in the United Kingdom. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 28 (3), pp.165-171.