Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person feels due to a mismatch between their gender identity—their personal sense of their own gender—and their sex assigned at birth.[5][6] The diagnostic label gender identity disorder (GID) was used until 2013 with the release of the DSM-5. The condition was renamed to remove the stigma associated with the term disorder.[7]
People with gender dysphoria commonly identify as transgender.[8] Gender nonconformity is not the same thing as gender dysphoria[9] and does not always lead to dysphoria or distress.[10] According to the American Psychiatric Association, the critical element of gender dysphoria is "clinically significant distress".[1]
The causes of gender dysphoria are unknown but a gender identity likely reflects genetic and biological, environmental, and cultural factors.[11][12][13] Treatment for gender dysphoria may include supporting the individual's gender expression or their desire for hormone therapy or surgery.[2][3] Treatment may also include counseling or psychotherapy.[3]
Some researchers and transgender people support declassification of the condition because they say the diagnosis pathologizes gender variance and reinforces the binary model of gender.[14]