GenderLife Forum: The Information Exchange

Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis, PhD; Department of Medical Psychology; VU University Medical Center; Amsterdam, The Netherlands

presented at the recent WPATH conference in Oslo -

Gender Dysphoria and the DSM-V: Report from the APA Subworkgroup on Gender Identity Disorders

INCLUDING the statement that 55.8% of stakeholder organisations surveyed worldwide thought that GID should be deleted from DSM-V.
Moreover another 23.3% were undecided. Only a mere 20.9% thought that it definitely should stay.

That is a whopping 79.1% of organisations are OK with GID coming out of DSM-V.
79% 79% SEVENTY-NINE PERCENT! And the trend is up.
This makes it really clear that if GID does indeed remain in DSM-V it can only be a result of selfishness on the part of psychiatrists that it is so.

PLEASE SHOUT THIS WONDERFUL NEWS FROM THE ROOFTOPS!
WE ARE WINNING THE WAR. TRANSSEXUAL PEOPLE ARE WINNING THIS WAR AGAINST PSYCHIATRIC COLONIZATION.

======== Brief fair use quotation from her presentation slides======
Seeking external input:
Survey
Purposes
• Identify concerns and perceived problems with current GID diagnosis
• Learn about country specific applications of GID diagnosis
• Solicit suggestions for possible reconstruction of the diagnosis
(Stanley Vance) [research assistant]
---------------------------------------------------------
Survey: Responding groups
• 1st round: 14 responses out of 88
• 2nd round 6 out of 11
• 3rd round 4 out of 26
• 4th round 1 of 62
• 5th round 0 of 14
• Not invited: 18 [these are organization that
responded, but were not specifically asked to do so]
• Total approached: 201 groups
• Total participated: 43 groups (21%)
---------------------------------------------------------
Survey: Responding countries
• Africa N=4 9.3% Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda (2)
• Asia N=2 4.7% Kyrgyzstan, Taiwan
• Europe N=15 34.9% Denmark, Finland (2), Germany, Spain, Switzerland(2), UK (4), Russia (1)
• Latin AmericaN=3 7.0% Brazil, Chile, Peru
• North America N=13 30.2% Canada (5), United States (8)
• Oceania N=4 9.3% Australia (3), New Zealand
• International N=2 4.7% (Canada + UK + US)
---------------------------------------------------------
Does your organization believe
GID should stay in the DSM?
No 55.8%n=24
Yes 20.9%n=9
Undecided 23.3%n=10

Lil Bit obsessed with this ?? LMAO

Just takes a lil extra cash to by pass it anyway sheesh

Yeah. What Holly doesn't understand is that 79% of me is totally sane an doesn't belong in the DSM at all but it's that remaining 21% that gets me every time.

@Ana_Okie: That's so true.

"The game never ends when your whole world depends on the turn of a friendly card." (Alan Parsons)

@Deena: For me, it's about 50/50. But it's getting better each day.

It's a watershed and a big deal.
Please don't try to trivialize that the tide has turned.

I guess if the keepers are keeping one back it would be a big deal. To me makes lil to no difference to me..

Holly,

Thanks for sharing this info...it's very encouraging. Am a bit cautious to get too optimistic as it seems to be a very small sample size. I wonder why that is?

Bear in mind that it is a number of organizations, not a number of people. But nonetheless it is disappointing that so many organizations failed to respond. My guess is that a large number are divided internally and did not want to respond with "We have no consensus" because that sounds too much like "we can't make decisions".

I'm just about certain that there is no consensus within WPATH - it is just about 50-50, but that is progress right there! The trend is towards de-psychopathologization.

No "gate keeper" stood in my way whatsoever, far from it, they facilitated things for me, and I was "done" far before any guidelines would have preferred.

But while it makes no difference to you, it makes the world of difference to me.

I don't like being considered mentally ill by the uninformed, and the fact that they have a big fat book to point at and say "See! The psych community says you're a sick f**k!" just gives them ammunition and gets in the way of any real substantive discourse where they might consider the possibility that I'm not a man-in-a-dress who has mutilated his [sic] body.

The removal of GID from that book is just one step in the public acceptance of us as part of the diversity of the human experience. It's not the only thing, of course, just as the homosexual population who are still working on acceptance! But it's a huge leap forward to have the psychiatrists agreeing that we're not mentally ill.

So while it may make no difference to you, please don't trivialize the fact that it's a huge deal for many of us who want the public's acceptance, if not for us, then for our children, or theirs.

Someday it will happen, it's just going to take a while.

Forgive me if this is a stupid question(I"m not an expert on insurance coverage).
My question is-Doe"s removing the GID diagnoses affect coverage of transition related psych care(psychiatrist,therapist),since it wouldn"t be considered a mental disorder anymore?