Gender Dysphoria: Diagnostic Issues, Clinical Aspects and Health Promotion

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Background

Gender Dysphoria (GD) (APA, 2013) is characterized by the presence of psychological suffering and psychosocial impairment caused by the mismatch between gender identity and biological sex. In the last 50 years, psychiatrists and psychologists working together with a multidisciplinary team including urologists, gynecologists, endocrinologists, plastic surgeons and speech therapists have focused on people with GD to reducing gender incongruence and promoting best levels of Quality of Life for them.

Recent epidemiological studies with methodologies that encompass the complexity of the psychosocial, demographic and clinical factors of this population have showed an increase in GD estimations ( DSM -5 presented a prevalence of males to females ranging from 5 to 14 per 1000 adult men (0.015-0.014) and 2 and 3 per 1000 adult women (0.002-0.003) (APA, 2013). More recently, there have been changes in diagnostic classifications including the diagnosis of "Transsexualism" by ICD-10 (WHO, 1993), currently “Gender Incongruence” by ICD-11 (WHO, 2018), "Gender Identity Disorder" by DSM- IV-TR (APA, 1994, 2002) and "Gender Dysphoria" by DSM-5 (APA, 2013).

It is well known that GD individuals have several medical needs and suffer different degrees of social marginalization, stigma and prejudice in countless regions of the world. All these adverse conditions generate great psychological distress for both GD people and their families. The lack of medical knowledge on the subject, and the consequent incomprehension may cause GD individuals not seek basic health care. In this context, GD individuals can develop major mental health issues and fail to promote a disease prevention and/or care that are usually developed in primary centers.

The main goal of this Research Topic is to gather multidisciplinary research promoting wellbeing and healthcare for GD individuals, and stimulate the creation of multidisciplinary teams trained in diagnosing and tackling GD. The publications will promote opportunity to integrate knowledge regarding diagnostic challenges, clinical presentations and health promotion modalities.

We particularly welcome studies on:

• The clinical and psychiatric comorbidities with gender dysphoria condition;
• The different sociocultural conditions involved in the definition of gender dysphoria;
• Difficulty of diagnosis related to GD onset and development;
• Psychological distress, psychopathology and vulnerability of people with GD;
• Social marginalization and loss of family ties of people with GD;
• Health promotion in individuals with GD;
• Interventions recurring to multidisciplinary team to perform complex surgical and pharmacological procedures.

Keywords: gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, gender transition, stigma, vulnerability

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