Mental health articles

Gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria is defined as unease about one’s biological sex. It refers to the individual’s experience of the inappropriateness of or discomfort with his gender, despite having typical male or female chromosomal and anatomical sexual configurations. This may be evident in infants from two years of age who express excessive desire to be the other sex or who have an aversion to their own sexual anatomy. In the preschool period this may be consolidated as a psychological identification with the opposite sex or cross-gender identification. In ‘normal’ development young children may express the wish to have the genitals of the other sex but do not usually dislike their own bodies. Children born with ambiguous genitalia or intersex conditions may have confusion about their gender, depending upon how easily the child can be assigned to a gender category and how parents are able to support the child.

Tags: dysphoria