What is Gender Identity Disorder, and how is it diagnosed?
The DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) identifies gender identity disorder in the following manner; Criteria A: Evidence of a strong and persistent cross-gender identification, which is the desire to be, or the insistence that one is of the other sex. Criteria B: This cross-gender identification must not merely be a desire for any perceived cultural advantages of being the other sex. There must also be evidence of persistent discomfort about one’s assigned sex or a sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex. Criteria C: The diagnosis is not made if the individual has a concurrent physical intersex condition (e.g., androgen insensitivity syndrome or congenital adrenal hyperplasia). Criteria D: To make the diagnosis, there must be evidence of clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
