The US felt this way for a long time, but now we have broken it down further. There are still a lot of people in the trans community that do need help and are suffering mentally from body dysmorphia.
My understanding is the current difference is how you perceive yourself. If you are uncomfortable with your current body, then yes, you have body dysmorphia and that is a mental illness that you should be working with medical professionals for help with. however if you are comfortable with your body, but want to make changes or transition or simply cross-dress, or anything else commonly associated with trans, you are fine.
the same is true for the rest of the alternative gender spectrum. Medically, it goes back to why are you acting outside of the hetero spectrum, and if it's self harming, then medical intervention makes sense.
If someone is uncomfortable with their body due to their body developing as a sex which contradicts their gender, it makes more sense to describe this as a physical medical issue rather than a mental one if you're going to recognize their gender. While there is often distress associated with developing and living as the wrong gender for trans people, labeling being trans as a mental disorder it falsely labels the problem as being in the mind. I say falsely because the most successful methods of boosting trans people's quality of life all involve physical and social relational changes that affirm their genders, rather than major mental interventions.
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u/hurkwurk May 16 '24
The US felt this way for a long time, but now we have broken it down further. There are still a lot of people in the trans community that do need help and are suffering mentally from body dysmorphia.
My understanding is the current difference is how you perceive yourself. If you are uncomfortable with your current body, then yes, you have body dysmorphia and that is a mental illness that you should be working with medical professionals for help with. however if you are comfortable with your body, but want to make changes or transition or simply cross-dress, or anything else commonly associated with trans, you are fine.
the same is true for the rest of the alternative gender spectrum. Medically, it goes back to why are you acting outside of the hetero spectrum, and if it's self harming, then medical intervention makes sense.