Get the Facts Right

Let's get the fact right. Ok? For one gender identity is not a mental disease or disorder. It only is an issue, and sometimes a problem, with the individual when there is a conflict with the rest of their world and environment and those issues or problems causes stress, anxiety, etc.

This is what the APA finally got right with the DSM-V which establishes it as a condition which is only a mental or medical issue from outside influences or stress, namely family, friends, work, etc. Otherwise, an individual recognizing the difference between the physical sex and their gender is just that and the medical protocols and proceedures to transition are clearly defined by WPATH.

The reason it's still called and some identify with Gender Identity Disorder is because it's defined and described that way in the last edition of the DSM-IV. That changed in May of this year with the DSM-V which removed it as disorder in and of itself, and only from other forces.

This is proven by the tens of thousands of post-transition, legally recognized male or female people in the US who are living normal lives with the physical body and gender in congruence without any stress or anxiety and the hundred of thousands of in-transition people along with the gender different and variant folks.

Gee, happy, normal people people. What a concept. What people confuse with gender identity is the time between when the individual realize it's a possibility to the time they begin their transition and then live in the gender they know they are.

During that time, the therapist's role is to clarify their patient's thoughts, feelings and emotions about themselves and help them determine where they are on the gender scale and help them find a way to live in the gender(s) they're happiest with themselves and their life.

The only decision a therapist makes is to agree with the self-diagnosis and self-recognition of the person's gender identity to approve the use of hormones to help their transtion. Hormones are not a requirement of a transition, as some people have physical and mental health issues with them, but it helps change the body and mind.

After that, it's just the time the individual needs or takes to transition especially if they want diferent significant surgeries to change their body from male to female or female to male. While there are standards for approval for it, the standards also vary with the individual and the medical professionals assisting their transition.

The point I wanted to make was to dispel the confusion about gender identity. It's not the issue or the problem, it's everybody else and their problems with a person with gender identity. They are the ones in need of therapy more than the individual with gender identity, mostly to get their understanding and attitude changed.

That's the fact, so stop blaming or castigating gender different or variant people. They're normal, just another human being like all of us.