Gender Identity Disorder

"Gender identity disorder" is a historical term used to describe transgender (and sometimes gender-nonconforming) people. 
The DSM-III edition was the first time gender identity was mentioned with the appearance of the word "transsexualism"https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/cultural-competency/education/transgender-and-gender-nonconforming-patients/gender-dysphoria-diagnosis. This publication in 1980 was in reference to someone being transgender, having been considered a disorder or defect long before its mention in the third DSM editon. The word transsexualism was deemed too derogatory, so when the DSM-IV was released, the term replacing it was coined gender identity disorder. This still implied that there was pathology associated with being transgender or gender nonbinary, accompanying the word disorder with someone's gender identity. 
== Confusion with gender nonconformity ==
In the 90s, research into "gender identity disorder" became subjective, when researchers began categorizing participants who identified with having gender dysphoria by their level of attractiveness, coming to the conclusion that people born men who identified as female were more attractive than those who were cisgenderhttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-disturbing-history-of-research-into-transgender-identity/. 
Then there was the a blame game, where researchers linked parents' allowing their children to play with dolls or action figures despite their gender, as the research conducted claimed that many of the participants who were diagnosed with "gender identity disorder" had parents who did not conform to regular gender norms or enforce these norms with their parenting. 
== Renaming to gender dysphoria ==
It was not until the DSM-5 that the term gender identity disorder was replaced with gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is now used to help describe when transgender people experience discomfort or distress with their gender expression or feel as though they are not in the correct body, identifying as a gender but being born the wrong sex to match it. This places the emphasis that is far less stigmatizing - being transgender is not a disorder, but there is a disorder that may be accompanied with the experiences that go along with it.
Having a diagnosis of gender dysphoria can be more helpful than harmful, as it qualifies individuals (with insurance that covers costs) to receive help and medical care, while also placing them under protection against discriminating work places, school administrations, and morehttps://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2012/07/23/dsm-replaces-gender-identity-disorder-gender-dysphoria. This takes away the pathological label that individuals who identified as transgender once receivedhttps://www.mentalhealthjournal.org/articles/gender-incongruence-is-no-longer-a-mental-disorder.html.
Some argue that there is still more we could do to de-stigmatize gender identity, for example, by completely removing gender dysphoria altogether, as was done when homosexuality was deemed to no longer signify pathology in a person.
== References ==
Category:Sex and Gender
Category:LGBTQIA+
Category:Gender
Category:Mental Health