What disappointment! On Wednesday, February 10, the American Psychiatric Association released a draft of the DSM V, where the controversial Gender Identity Disorder (GID) still exists.
The
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) is a book of psychiatric disorders for the use of mental health professionals. Within its pages, you’ll find “official” definitions of diseases that afflict the mind, like depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anorexia nervosa, etc. Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and social workers use this manual and its semi-strict systematic guidelines to diagnose diseases.
It’s not perfect, but it has its uses – one of them: discrimination.
2012 will see the publication of the manual’s fifth edition (the DSM V), the first edition having been first published in 1952. The long, complex revision process involves examining each classified disorder, adding new disorders, removing unnecessary ones or altering criteria.
For example, until 1973, the DSM classified homosexuality as a
mental disorder. That means before 1973, physicians, employers, lawmakers, could justify homophobia by saying that gay men and women literally had an “illness.” This monumental change granted gays, lesbians, and bisexuals a legitimate normalcy.
Today, most psychiatrists view homosexuality as a “normal” lifestyle, which can’t be said for our transgender brothers and sisters. Most people who identify as transgender feel as if they were born in the “wrong body.” They feel a strong – almost debilitating – desire to become a member of a different sex or gender. (male/female; man/woman) The current edition of the DSM (the fourth edition) classifies this desire as Gender Identity Disorder (GID). This pathologizes those who desire to change their sex and/or gender expression to become more comfortable with themselves. They haven’t been granted normalcy... yet.
This issue has sparked a movement to remove Gender Identity Disorder from the DSM’s fifth edition. Among many arguments, some claim that the existence of GID places a label – a pathologic label – on a diverse array of lifestyles. After several years of complaints, suggestions, reform, and patience, the rough draft of the
DSM V still has GID. American Psychiatric Association’s disregard shows that transgender activists have more work to do.
Many mental health professionals, physicians, and activists hope the committee reconsiders the inclusion of GID before 2012 and grants transgender individuals their medical normalcy.
