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gender identity disorder

in DSM–IV–TR, a disorder characterized by clinically significant distress or impairment of functioning due to cross-gender identification (i.e., a desire to be or actual insistence that one is of the other sex) and persistent discomfort arising from the belief that one’s sex or gender is inappropriate to one’s true self (see transsexualism). The disorder is distinguished from simple dissatisfaction or nonconformity with gender roles. The category gender identity disorder not otherwise specified is used to classify gender-related disorders distinct from gender identity disorder, such as gender dysphoria related to congenital intersex, stress-related cross-dressing behavior (see transvestism), or preoccupation with castration or penectomy (removal of the penis). In DSM–5, gender dysphoria entirely replaces gender identity disorder as a diagnostic class and emphasizes the clinical significance not of cross-gender identification per se but instead the possible distress arising from a sense of incongruence one may have between one’s experienced gender and one’s assigned gender.

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November 21st 2024