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Gender Dysphoria: Definition and Evolution Through the Years

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Abstract

This chapter is about the definition and evolution of the professional approach to gender dysphoria (and related conditions), generally from a Western medical perspective, beginning in the 1970s when the term gender dysphoria was first used in the nomenclature. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care (SOC) clinical guidelines are used as points of departure to describe the history and accelerating evolution of professional understanding of the condition. The paradigm shift from a binary to a spectrum approach of gender and the corresponding change from a sex-change and one-size-fits-all model of medical treatment to the currently broader and individualized approaches to health care will be chronicled. Finally, this chapter describes the evolution from understanding the condition as a disorder to one of being part of an overall pattern of gender diversity. The corresponding shifting nomenclature in the SOC (International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is also described. This chapter ends with a call for global training.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Lin Fraser EdD

  2. Private Practice, 2538 California Street, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Lin Fraser EdD

Authors
  1. Lin Fraser EdD
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Correspondence to Lin Fraser EdD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, University of Trieste, Cattinara Hospital, Trieste, Italy

    Carlo Trombetta

  2. Department of Urology, University of Trieste, Cattinara Hospital, Trieste, Italy

    Giovanni Liguori

  3. Department of Radiology, University of Trieste, Cattinara Hospital, Trieste, Italy

    Michele Bertolotto

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Fraser, L. (2015). Gender Dysphoria: Definition and Evolution Through the Years. In: Trombetta, C., Liguori, G., Bertolotto, M. (eds) Management of Gender Dysphoria. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-5696-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-5696-1_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Milano

  • Print ISBN: 978-88-470-5695-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-88-470-5696-1

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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