Gender dysphoria is used to describe the feeling of uneasiness or discomfort felt by a person whose biological sex doesn’t match with their gender identity. Biological sex refers to the genitals and other physical features of a person that belong to a particular gender. Gender identity refers to the mental feeling or belief of their gender.
What is gender identity?
Gender identity of an individual is the sense of how they feel who they are. “Binary” identities consist of “male” and “female” and “non-binary” identities are those who don’t fit in either of the category.
The issue of gender identity disorder arises when a person who has male genitals, body hair etc feels that he is a woman inside and behaves, dress that way. Similarly, a person with female genitals and body believes that she is a man on the inside and behaves and dresses like a man.
For some (the non-binary ones), they don’t identify themselves with a man or a woman and the idea of gender usually doesn’t feel relevant.
Gender dysphoria and gender identity
People with gender dysphoria tend to dress and behave in a way that matches their gender identity. Some undergo hormone therapy and those who can afford undergo surgeries to change their body parts to match their gender identity.
Some people develop mental problems because of the stress they undergo due to the confusion and mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. This is mostly seen in people from countries that don’t approve/accept people from non-binary genders.
Symptoms of Gender dysphoria
People with gender dysphoria are usually under stress and anxious. Along with that they may have the following symptoms:
- Low self esteem
- Not making friends and happy being aloof and lone.
- Trying to be in their “true” gender when alone
- Neglecting and not taking care of their self.
Gender identity in children
Children with gender identity problem often choose to pick the toys of other gender. They are happy playing with them and often display behavioural characteristics of other gender. However, every child picking or liking toys that are “supposedly meant” for opposite gender or behaving differently can’t be diagnosed for gender identity. Some children, following their mother or father can behave a little differently which will go away eventually as they grow up.
Children with actual gender identity problem undergo a lot of stress during puberty as they realize that their body doesn’t match with their identity. The issue grows up with them and after reaching adulthood, they may try to get their body parts changed to sync it with their mind.
Treatment for gender dysphoria
When you realize that you or your child has gender dysphoria, it is best to talk to a qualified counsellor or sex therapist who can diagnose and address the problem. Dr. Karthik Gunasekaran from Metromale Clinic & Fertility Center, Chennai is one such highly qualified doctor who can provide you or your child with proper therapy and counselling.
For an appointment with Dr. Karthik Gunasekaran, you may fill up the form or call +91 97102 04044.
