29 years
What are the possibilities to be cured from Gender Dysphoria? Or why Gender Dysphoria exist? Thank you and God bless.
Sep 18, 2014
Gender Dysphoria was formerly known as Gender Identity Disorder. Because of the controversy around this diagnosis, the criteria and name of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) has been changed in the DSM-5 to Gender Dysphoria.
In order for an individual to be diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria today, they must exhibit a strong and persistent cross-gender identification, not merely a desire for any perceived cultural advantages of being the other sex. This includes symptoms such as a declared desire to be the other sex, frequent passing as the other sex, desire to live or be treated as the other sex, or the conviction that he or she has the typical feelings and reactions of the other sex. The affected individuals are typically preoccupied with getting rid of primary and secondary sex characteristics (e.g., request for hormones, surgery, or other procedures to physically alter sexual characteristics to simulate the other sex), or believe that they were born the wrong sex.
Back in 1968 and based upon the psychoanalytic theory, Stoller described a typical scenario that paves the way for a male transsexual to emerge: a woman whose mother did not encourage her daughter’s femininity enough ends up marrying a passive man, and builds a relationship that is unsatisfactory for both parties but that often lasts long enough. This depressed woman gives birth to a male child. A blissful symbiosis is established between mother and son. The father does not try to break the symbiosis and tends to stay away from home. Excessive physical and emotional closeness to the mother for too long a time leads to feminine identification and behaviors that secretly please the mother, who reinforces them.
Stroller viewed this non-conflictual learning process as similar to imprinting. In contrast, he viewed homosexuality and trans-vestism as end results of defense against the trauma of dangerous and painful interpersonal relationships.
In 1974, however, a different hypothesis was made that was still placed in psychosocial etiology that was based on a study of 10 primary transsexuals (individuals with gender dysphoria). The study subjects, although they were found to envy girls and engage in cross-dressing behavior as of the age of 3-10 years, but none of them believed he was a girl, and 9 gave no history of feminine behavior. They were loners, with few age mates of either sex, and they had feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. They were asexual and loathed their male characteristics. Their wish to be female was based on a fantasy of symbiotic fusion with the mother as a way of dealing with extreme separation anxiety.
It has been claimed that the development of transsexualism is the “result of a non-conflictual process, where gender identity is precociously fixed.”
Biologic factors have been implied in transsexualism, including girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a condition causing prenatal exposure to a relatively high level of androgens, several areas in the hypothalamus are believed to underlie sex differences in gender identity, reproduction, and sexual orientation. Some studies suggest that male gender identity may be partly mediated through the androgen receptor. The relative contribution of sex hormones and other non-hormonal factors requires further research.
In order for an individual to be diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria today, they must exhibit a strong and persistent cross-gender identification, not merely a desire for any perceived cultural advantages of being the other sex. This includes symptoms such as a declared desire to be the other sex, frequent passing as the other sex, desire to live or be treated as the other sex, or the conviction that he or she has the typical feelings and reactions of the other sex. The affected individuals are typically preoccupied with getting rid of primary and secondary sex characteristics (e.g., request for hormones, surgery, or other procedures to physically alter sexual characteristics to simulate the other sex), or believe that they were born the wrong sex.
Back in 1968 and based upon the psychoanalytic theory, Stoller described a typical scenario that paves the way for a male transsexual to emerge: a woman whose mother did not encourage her daughter’s femininity enough ends up marrying a passive man, and builds a relationship that is unsatisfactory for both parties but that often lasts long enough. This depressed woman gives birth to a male child. A blissful symbiosis is established between mother and son. The father does not try to break the symbiosis and tends to stay away from home. Excessive physical and emotional closeness to the mother for too long a time leads to feminine identification and behaviors that secretly please the mother, who reinforces them.
Stroller viewed this non-conflictual learning process as similar to imprinting. In contrast, he viewed homosexuality and trans-vestism as end results of defense against the trauma of dangerous and painful interpersonal relationships.
In 1974, however, a different hypothesis was made that was still placed in psychosocial etiology that was based on a study of 10 primary transsexuals (individuals with gender dysphoria). The study subjects, although they were found to envy girls and engage in cross-dressing behavior as of the age of 3-10 years, but none of them believed he was a girl, and 9 gave no history of feminine behavior. They were loners, with few age mates of either sex, and they had feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. They were asexual and loathed their male characteristics. Their wish to be female was based on a fantasy of symbiotic fusion with the mother as a way of dealing with extreme separation anxiety.
It has been claimed that the development of transsexualism is the “result of a non-conflictual process, where gender identity is precociously fixed.”
Biologic factors have been implied in transsexualism, including girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a condition causing prenatal exposure to a relatively high level of androgens, several areas in the hypothalamus are believed to underlie sex differences in gender identity, reproduction, and sexual orientation. Some studies suggest that male gender identity may be partly mediated through the androgen receptor. The relative contribution of sex hormones and other non-hormonal factors requires further research.
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