- Gender dysphoria emerged as the new diagnosis, replacing transsexualism/gender 
identity disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th Edition). 
- The International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD11) diagnosis of gender incongruence refers to the same mismatch as gender dysphoria.

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Arizona State University

Gender Dysphoria is characterized by the subjectively experienced distress that arises from the mismatch between gender identity, or internally felt sense of gender, and assigned sex at birth.

Gender Dysphoria

Jessen, R. S., Haraldsen, I., & Stänicke, E. (2021). Navigating in the dark: Meta-synthesis of subjective experiences of gender dysphoria amongst transgender and gender non-conforming youth. Social Science & Medicine, 281, 114094. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114094

Navigating in the Dark: Meta-Synthesis of Subjective Experiences of Gender Dysphoria Amongst Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Youth

Gender minorities such as transgender and gender non-conforming individuals experience gender dysphoria.

Populations at Risk of Gender Dysphoria

- Since the advent in the 1950s of medical treatment that aimed to change the body 
more in accordance with gender identity, gender dysphoria has been the clinical target 
for gender affirmative care.
- The clinical rationale with medical treatment has been to alleviate gender dysphoria by changing the body to be more in accordance with gender identity. For children, this medical treatment model includes the possibility of puberty suppression and hormonal 
treatment after age 16. 
- Furthermore, the number of teenagers seeking medical treatment for gender incongruence/gender dysphoria has been increasing each year since 2013 in the Western world.
- Identifying as transgender does not automatically imply a need for medical treatment or meeting the diagnostic criteria for gender dysphoria.

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