Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to a mismatch between their gender identity—their personal sense of their own gender—and their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender identity disorder (GID) in 2013 with the release of the diagnostic manual DSM-5. The condition was renamed to remove the stigma associated with the term disorder. The International Classification of Diseases uses the term gender incongruence instead of gender dysphoria,defined as a marked and persistent mismatch between gender identity and assigned gender,regardless of distress or impairment.
The Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People (SOC) is an international clinical protocol by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) outlining the recommended assessment and treatment for transgender and gender-diverse individuals across the lifespan including social,hormonal,or surgical transition. It often influences clinicians' decisions regarding patients' treatment. While other standards,protocols,and guidelines exist –especially outside the United States –the WPATH SOC is the most widespread protocol used by professionals working with transgender or gender-variant people.
In medicine,precocious puberty is puberty occurring at an unusually early age. In most cases,the process is normal in every aspect except the unusually early age and simply represents a variation of normal development. There is early development of secondary sex characters and gametogenesis also starts earlier. Precocious puberty is of two types:true precocious puberty and pseudoprecocious puberty. In a minority of children with precocious puberty,the early development is triggered by a disease such as a tumor or injury of the brain.
Leuprorelin,also known as leuprolide,is a manufactured version of a hormone used to treat prostate cancer,breast cancer,endometriosis,uterine fibroids,for early puberty,or as part of transgender hormone therapy. It is given by injection into a muscle or under the skin.
University of Rome Tor Vergata,also known as the University of Tor Vergata,is a public research university located in Rome,Italy. Located in the southeastern suburb of Rome,the university combines a liberal arts tradition with emphasis on career orientation in the field of Economics,Engineering,Mathematics and Physics,Natural Sciences,and Medicine.
Triptorelin,sold under the brand name Decapeptyl among others,is a medication that acts as an agonist analog of gonadotropin-releasing hormone,repressing expression of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).
Gender dysphoria in children (GD),also known as gender incongruence of childhood,is a formal diagnosis for distress caused by incongruence between assigned sex and gender identity in some pre-pubescent transgender and gender diverse children.
The minister of health in Italy is one of the positions in the Italian government. The ministry was officially established in 1958,with Vincenzo Monaldi,of the Christian Democracy,serving as the first minister. From 1946 to 1958,the position was held by a high commissioners for hygiene and public health,who was not a minister but a special commissioner. Nicola Perrotti,of the Italian Socialist Party,served as the first high commissioner.
Transgender youth are children or adolescents who do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth. Because transgender youth are usually dependent on their parents for care,shelter,financial support,and other needs,they face different challenges compared to adults. According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health,the American Psychological Association,and the American Academy of Pediatrics,appropriate care for transgender youth may include supportive mental health care,social transition,and/or puberty blockers,which delay puberty and the development of secondary sex characteristics to allow children more time to explore their gender identity.
Johanna Olson-Kennedy is an American physician who specializes in the care of children and teenagers with gender dysphoria and youth with HIV and chronic pain. She is board-certified in pediatrics and adolescent medicine and is the medical director of the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
Puberty blockers are medicines used to postpone puberty in children. The most commonly used puberty blockers are gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists,which suppress the natural production of sex hormones,such as androgens and estrogens. Puberty blockers are used to delay puberty in children with precocious puberty. Since the 1990s,they are also used to delay the development of unwanted secondary sex characteristics in transgender children,so as to allow transgender youth more time to explore their gender identity under what became known as the "Dutch Protocol". They have been shown to reduce depression and suicidality in transgender and nonbinary youth. The same drugs are also used in fertility medicine and to treat some hormone-sensitive cancers in adults.
Gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT),also called hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or transgender hormone therapy,is a form of hormone therapy in which sex hormones and other hormonal medications are administered to transgender or gender nonconforming individuals for the purpose of more closely aligning their secondary sexual characteristics with their gender identity. This form of hormone therapy is given as one of two types,based on whether the goal of treatment is masculinization or feminization:
Transgender health care includes the prevention,diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental health conditions for transgender individuals. A major component of transgender health care is gender-affirming care,the medical aspect of gender transition. Questions implicated in transgender health care include gender variance,sex reassignment therapy,health risks,and access to healthcare for trans people in different countries around the world. Gender affirming health care can include psychological,medical,physical,and social behavioral care. The purpose of gender affirming care is to help a transgender individual conform to their desired gender identity.
Rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) is a controversial,scientifically unsupported hypothesis which claims that some adolescents identify as transgender and experience gender dysphoria due to peer influence and social contagion,particularly those assigned female at birth. ROGD is not recognized as a valid mental health diagnosis by any major professional association. The APA,WPATH and 60 other medical professional organizations have called for its elimination from clinical settings due to a lack of reputable scientific evidence for the concept,major methodological issues in existing research,and its stigmatization of gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
A gender identity clinic is a type of specialist clinic providing services relating to transgender health care.
Jack L. Turban is an American psychiatrist,writer,and commentator who researches the mental health of transgender youth. His writing has appeared in The New York Times,The Washington Post,The Los Angeles Times,CNN,Scientific American,and Vox. He is an assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at The University of California San Francisco and affiliate faculty in health policy at The Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies.
The Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) was a nationally operated health clinic in the United Kingdom that specialised in working with transgender and gender diverse youth,including those with gender dysphoria. Launched in 1989,GIDS was commissioned by NHS England and took referrals from across the UK,although it was operated at a Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust site. GIDS was the only gender identity clinic for people under 18 in England and Wales and was the subject of much controversy.
Bell v Tavistock was a case before the Court of Appeal on the question of whether puberty blockers could be prescribed to under-16s with gender dysphoria. The Court of Appeal said that "it was for clinicians rather than the court to decide on competence" to consent to receive puberty blockers.
Laura Edwards-Leeper is an American psychologist and founder of the first pediatric gender clinic of the United States. She also served as head of the Child and Adolescent Committee for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.
The Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People was commissioned in 2020 by NHS England and NHS Improvement and led by Hilary Cass,a retired consultant paediatrician and the former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. It dealt with gender services for children and young people,including those with gender dysphoria and those identifying as transgender in England.
