DSM-V

Being born transsexual is not a mental condition and cannot be treated by those in the world of Psychiatry. The real problem for a long time has been that basically anyone can claim they are transsexual as long as they can deceive a mental professional, an oxymoron in my opinion, into believing they are with a well learned narrative.

In the DSM-IV, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the disorder that defined transsexuals was Gender Identity Disorder. In the DSM-V it is Gender Dysphoria. There has been a concerted effort over the last 50 years to redefine sex and gender as the same or close enough to be "the same" but they can be diametrically opposite to exactly alike. Before those times gender was a cultural term that described how a specific culture defined the gender roles for the male and female members of their society and some, like some American Indian Tribes, described a third gender that did not fit into the binary. They were often the Shamans of the tribes or the spiritual leaders because they had two spirits within. That is a simplistic view by the way.

Sex has always been a binary construct with male and female. There are some that would claim the intersex are a third sex but that is not true since almost all truly intersex people make a choice, if it was not mistakenly chosen for them, sometime in their lives to be male or female if it is even an issue. Transsexualism occurs in those born intersex in rare cases but is not a major player in the many issues the intersex face although certain crazies have tried to infiltrate the intersex condition in order to somehow to make themselves "more" whatever. Most of us know who I am talking about.

In the DSM those who are intersex are excluded from the criteria that defined GID or gender Dysphoria but unfortunately they never defined which intersex conditions were excluded. Someone born a hermaphrodite must certainly be excluded but someone can certainly be born with many intersex conditions that should not be excluded.

There are many that believe transsexualism is an intersex condition but until medical science proves it we are left in the hands of Psychiatrists and Therapists.  The problem is there are few of themwould understand the difference between transsexual and transgender. Many do not believe transsexualism exists and that we are the same as the transvestites and cross-dressers. The Psychiatrist Dr. Spack os associated with at Boston Children's Hospital is one of these people. I prefer the term quack but that is just me.

Gender Identity Disorder should have been Sex Identity Disorder and if on actually read the DSM-IV definition that is what they described. A disorder may be either mental or physical but Dysphoria is strictly a mental disorder as follows.

Dysphoria (from Greek δύσφορος (dysphoros), from δυσ-, difficult, and φέρειν, to bear) (semantically opposite of euphoria) is medically recognized as a mental and emotional condition in which a person experiences intense feelings of depression, discontent and indifference to the world around them.

So with Gender Dysphoria the American Psychiatric Association (APA) which is actually made up of people from many foreign countries as officially an completely redefined transsexualism as a mental disorder. There are some Health Professionals that are concerned this will make it difficult for patients to get coverage even from medical Plans that currently do cover it. This may or may not be true. 

What bothers me most of all is that the Work Group for Gender Identity Disorder was chaired by Kennith Zucker and includes his fellow quack Ray Blanchard. This is akin to hiring the fox to guard the chickens from inside the chicken coup. Inside the coup the chickens will all end up as dinner and in the GID world we end up in the darkness that is Zucker and Blanchard and the result is Dysphoria which under zero circumstances can be considered a medical issue.

The real question I have is how so many people qualify for hormones or a GID diagnosis or will qualify under the new Dysphoria if any Therapist or Psychiatrist follows the criteria for diagnosis under DSM-IV and then uses the Severity Test. By the way the severity test is what benjamin defined as intensity?a 

The DSM-V for adolescents and adults has been so radically revised that a chicken could walk in and get a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and this is a result of intense lobbying by the transgender community. 

Gender Dysphoria (in Adolescents or Adults)**

A. A marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender, of at least 6 months duration, as manifested by 2* or more of the following indicators: [2, 3, 4]**

1. a marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and primary and/or secondary sex characteristics (or, in young adolescents, the anticipated secondary sex characteristics) [13, 16]

2. a strong desire to be rid of one’s primary and/or secondary sex characteristics because of a marked incongruence with one’s experienced/expressed gender (or, in young adolescents, a desire to prevent the development of the anticipated secondary sex characteristics) [17]

3. a strong desire for the primary and/or secondary sex characteristics of the other gender

4. a strong desire to be of the other gender (or some alternative gender different from one’s assigned gender)

5. a strong desire to be treated as the other gender (or some alternative gender different from one’s assigned gender)

6. a strong conviction that one has the typical feelings and reactions of the other gender (or some alternative gender different from one’s assigned gender)

B. The condition is associated with clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning,  or with a significantly increased risk of suffering, such as distress or disability** 

Subtypes

With a disorder of sex development [14]

Without a disorder of sex development

See also: [15, 16, 19]

Specifier**

Post-transition, i.e., the individual has transitioned to full-time living in the desired gender (with or without legalization of gender change) and has undergone (or is undergoing) at least one cross-sex medical procedure or treatment regimen, namely, regular cross-sex hormone treatment or gender reassignment surgery confirming the desired gender (e.g., penectomy, vaginoplasty in a natal male, mastectomy, phalloplasty in a natal female).

Note: Three changes have been made since the initial website launch in February 2010: the name of the diagnosis, the addition of the B criterion, and the addition of a specifier. Definitions and criterion under A remain unchanged.

Here is the link.

The big change comes in the criteria which only requires 2 criteria be met from items 2,3,4.  If one uses 3 and four then one qualifies. The real question is simply why should adolescents and adults have easier qualifications than children? The irony of how children are diagnosed is that our so-called "experts" use stereotypical cultural idiocy to determine if a child is GID or Gender Dysphoric based on play items. Because they often wait so long should not the criteria be as stringent for adolescents and adults? 

So it seems if you now ant breasts you will qualify as Gender Dysphoric.  Heck you even get to define your "own" new alternative gender.  Exactly how does that work anyway? 

The irony is neither GID or Gender Dysphoria by drugs used for any form of Psychiatric problem. It is cured by cross-sex hormones, a physical transition and in all but the rarest of cases SRS which is sex reassignment surgery because if there are alternative genders how can there be GRS for a gender undefined or specific enough to be corrected by surgery which is where Gender Confirmation Surgery comes in. One can now confirm gender by adding breasts or getting your balls chopped off it seems but does that cure you? 

If you look at the DSM-IV verses the DMS-V one will recognize that the DSM-IV used primary and secondary sex characteristics and DSM-V uses  primary and/or secondary sex characteristics  which is a major change. I wonder who wanted that change?

Those of us born transsexual recognize the simplicity of our condition. Just let us become completely female and we are no longer transsexual. In the transgender community you will never read one of them claim they are no longer transgender. Like Autumn they are "transgender forever" so that begs the simple question.  Does that not make them GID or Gender Dysphoric forever? Therefore under the guidelines of the APA and the DSM does that not make them mentally ill forever? I am not sure I believe that.

All the new version of the DSM does is blur the lines even more than before which makes it easier for the transgender umbrella followers to blur the lines between transsexual, transvestite, and cross-dresser which only fully benefits those not born transsexual.

The interesting question is can anyone that identifies as transgender be cured? I am sure Zucker and Blanchard would love to abuse you with some aversion therapy which I am all too familiar with from other sources and I would not recommend it.

I stopped having sex identity issues after my SRS and absolutely never had gender identity issues because I like many transsexuals just knew I was a girl. How can someone that is transgender be cured when gender is so flexible? Can someone that is transgender be cured? If the transgender can be cured what is the cure?