The DSM-IV lists gender identity disorder as a pathology, assuming that it can be treated or dealt with in some way. The DSM says, "To make the diagnosis, there must be evidence of clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (Criteria D)," criterion D being "D. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning" (DSM-IV). This criterion is present in many diagnostic criteria for pathologies listed in the DSM, not just GID. So here are my questions:
Is GID in the DSM because it causes distress, or does it cause distress because it's in the DSM?
We can look at this through a historical lens and view homosexuality as it existed before it was taken out of the DSM; it was much more unacceptable back then than it is now. Could that be why homosexuality caused distress at the time? Did the distress lessen once it was out of the DSM?
If we remove GID from the DSM, will that de-stigmatize the trans community and make transgenderism and transsexuality more acceptable?
I'm asking this because when we talked about GID being in the DSM, at first I thought, “Well maybe it’s in the DSM because it causes distress, like many other listings in the DSM.” But once I started to really think on it, I realized that it could in fact be the other way around! Something that Feinberg said in hir essay comes to mind as I think on these questions: "As long as people try to bring me into focus using only those two lenses, I will always appear to be an enigma" (Feinberg, 7). As long as we try to bring all people into focus using only the lenses we’ve been taught over and over again are right – healthy or sick, man or woman, normal or abnormal, like us or not like us – people will continue to be devalued and marginalized.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Laura,
ReplyDeleteI too am very interested in understanding Gender Identity Disorder and how the American Psychiatric Association classifies people. Your question was very good and it got me thinking. Some people jump to conclusions about things without fully thinking things through and in doing so, they seem to miss out on the details and the little things. As with any disorder that is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, I think it feels like it comes as a two sided sword. The people who are being treated for a condition or disorder that is in the DSM-IV, are probably relieved at first, like wow, what I have is real, it is in the DSM! But on the other side of the thinking, it is like now they are classified and treated for that disorder and has to live with the stigma that it brings. You almost wander if sometimes it is better to not be treated for a condition, like ignorance is bliss.
Your question says, "If we remove GID from the DSM, will that de-stigmatize the trans community and make transgenderism and transsexuality more acceptable?" I would have to respond to that by saying that in the culture we live in, I do not think it will ever be possible for transgenderism or transsexuality to be more acceptable just because it is either in or out of the DSM-IV. I think that it could maybe make a difference in the thinking of the person who claims to have gender identity disorder, but not in the public and communities eyes. I guess I could say, only in the eyes of the beholder would it make a difference.