GID NOS and upcoming DSM-V?

[guy26 (imported)]

Does anyone know where the DSM-V is headed in terms of Gender Identity Disorder Not Otherwise Specified--302.6? I'm interested because I most likely fall into that category. I haven't asked whether I am being labeled that, but I'm guessing my insurance may call for some label if they are going to pay for hormone treatment. I may ask about the label next week at my next appointment.

Anyway, My impression is that GID NOS seems to be more commonly used to capture those that have GID and are intersexed. But it also covers those who have castration desires who don't desire to be the other sex and are not suffering from BIID.

I don't feel like paying $34 just to read this article http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/conten ... tlelink?wo rds=future,gid,nos,dsm . But it likely would answer my question. For some reason our university doesn't have access to it. Bad K-State.

I have read a couple of articles that are concerned about the potential changes in the DSM-V in relation to GID. It appears they want to move those that are inter-sexed and have GID issues from GID NOS to plain GID. But those articles did not really indicate whether they are trying to get rid of GID NOS all together.

Anyone have an idea?

Also searching around professional journals, it seems there is very very little literature on GID NOS. Am I just searching in the wrong places?

edit: If you want to see what the DSM-IV says about GID, take a look at http://www.mhsanctuary.com/gender/dsm.htm .

[JesusA (imported)]

The article is titled The Future of GID NOS in the DSM 5: Report of the GID NOS Working Group of a Consensus Process Conducted by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. The three authors are Katherine Rachlin, a clinical psychologist in New York, Cecilia Dhejne, a psychiatrist in Stockholm, and George Brown, a psychiatrist at the Mountain Home VAMC in Tennessee. Both Kit and Cecilia are very sympathetic to those who are MtE, and I’ve had pleasant conversations and email exchanges with both. Brown doesn’t seem to believe that there’s anything other than the traditional gender binary. (My contact with him has not been positive.) The consensus report seems to follow Kit and Cecelia. Three of the articles based on the Eunuch Archive surveys are cited in the bibliography (Brett et al. 2007, Johnson et al. 2007, and Vale et al. 2010) and the authors also had access to other, unpublished, information.

The article consists of suggestions for the committees working on the next edition of the Standards of Care, as well as the DSM 5. Some of the relevant suggestions include that:

1) GID NOS be retained as a concept,

2) the name be changed from “disorder” to something less pathologizing,

3) GID in general be moved from sexual disorders to another section of the DSM, relating to identity, rather than sexuality, and

4) among the examples specifically listed in the DSM be included

2. Persistent preoccupation with castration or penectomy without a desire to acquire the sex characteristics of the other sex and with clinically significant levels of gender dysphoria. [This may be an opening for BIID, which will probably not make it into the DSM as a separate category.]

3. Desire for partial gender adjustment by hormonal or surgical interventions in order to relieve feelings of gender dysphoria but not specifically intended to move the individual toward a traditional gender presentation or traditional gender role.

At the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality in Las Vegas last November, one of the members of the appropriate DSM committee of the American Psychiatric Association suggested that Male-to-Eunuch may be pulled out of GID NOS as a separate category, allowing for easier access to treatment and (in some cases) medical insurance coverage.

For the last part of Guy26’s post – there is almost nothing in print about GID NOS. The one major article was published in 2000 and is titled Ought GIDNOS Get Nought and is largely a plea that it be taken seriously and get proper treatment. The only other item of significance is a brief letter to the editor of the Archives of Sexual Behavior in 2010 titled Gender Identity Disorder Outside the Binary: When Gender Identity Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified Is Not Good Enough, which also looks at the need for proper treatment options.

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[guy26 (imported)]

Wow. Thank you for such an informative reply. That is more than I could have asked for from anyone.

Maybe in time there will be more professional discussion in the literature with the work that others are doing. Collectively we might be paving the way for a much easier environment to seek help in for the next generation that would share the same difficulties as us.

[symempathy (imported)]

I'm a biological male, and I'm quite happy with my secondary sex characteristics although it'll be nice if I can reduce my prominent larynx and some facial hairs. Generally I still identify myself a male

Now the problem is there is a feminine part in my mind that wants to be recognized on my body. I don't like my testis and penis. I want to surgically castrate my testis and change my penis into a vagina-like organ. When I say a vagina-like organ, I mean I don't want a clitoris or labia. And I absolutely don't want to become a female.

Do I fall under the GID NOS category?

[guy26 (imported)]

Do I fall under the GID NOS category?

I am not a psychologist, psychiatrist, and I don't even play one on TV, so take my words with a grain of salt. I generically advise that one should not try to self diagnosis whatever the mental health concern might be. However, with that out of the way, I'll let you know my thoughts on the subject.

If I might be so bold, it sounds like you are unhappy about your sex, which is a kind of biological category, but you are happy with your gender, which is more of a social construct. Would you say this is the case?

Based on your statements, GID NOS would seem like an appropriate diagnosis. If you take a look at this link,

http://www.mhsanctuary.com/gender/dsm.htm ,

you'll see that under 302.6 under

example number 3, your case is specifically stated… "Persistent preoccupation with castration or penectomy without a desir

e to acquire the sex characteristics of the other sex." I believe the key here is that the desire cannot be one of a fetish, but must be rooted in a real desire for such an outcome. The other key is that the reason for it cannot be rooted in a feeling that your testicles and penis are alien and don't belong on your body. Otherwise with the latter part, it would make it more of a BIID issue.

My advice is still to work with a therapist on your issues. It took several tries to find a therapist that made a difference and that I felt comfortable talking to. As someone once told me, therapists are like boxes of cereal. If you don't like one, try another.