From transsexualism to gender incongruity

depathologization in the evolution of diagnostic classifications for trans identity

Abstract

Objective: To contribute to the knowledge about the historical evolution of diagnostic classifications related to trans identities. Methods: This is an update article carried out through a bibliographic review of the editions of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), in addition to other scientific publications about the history and the evolution of diagnostic classifications regarding trans identities. Results: Trans identities have already been named in different ways in the manuals that determine the diagnostic criteria that make up medical nosology. In the DSM, there was a certain gradation: what was defined as “Transsexualism” initially became “Gender identity disorder” and, more recently, “Gender dysphoria”. In the ICD, the change was more direct: from “Transsexualism”, a category of a subgroup of psychiatric disorders known as “Sexual identity disorders”, to “Gender incongruence”, a category of a group not belonging to psychiatric disorders, named as “Conditions related to sexual health”. Conclusion: The depathologization of trans identities is part of the process of evolution of human knowledge that, in this way, contributes to overcoming old prejudices and discrimination related to this group.