Transsexualism is a gender identity disorder characterized by a feeling of mismatching one's own sex.
A person with this disorder is not satisfied with their sexual characteristics. He feels a "prisoner" in his own body.
Symptoms of gender identity disorder
The first symptoms of sexual mismatch appear already in childhood.
In boys it is manifested in the desire to often dress up in clothes characteristic of girls, in girls insistence on wearing boys' clothes. There is a reluctance to participate in typically boyish games and fantasizing about being a person of a different sex.
Similar behavior occurs in girls.
In adults, gender identity disorder is mainly manifested in the desire to have the opposite sex and to be treated as a full representative of that sex.
Criteria for transsexualism:
- persisting strong identification with the opposite sex;
- constant discomfort associated with being of a particular gender or a feeling that your own gender role is inappropriate;
- the disorder is not accompanied by a physical state of intersexuality (simultaneous occurrence of female and male genitals);
- this disorder causes discomfort hindering or preventing social or professional functioning.
Transsexualism treatment
In some cases of transsexual treatment, psychological therapies are used that can reverse the sense of sex in transsexualism.
However, this is the case for very few patients and usually the best method is surgical gender correction (now known as 'gender reassignment').
Before undertaking treatment based on gender correction, a transsexual person undergoes detailed diagnostics to ensure that the decision is stable.
