Transsexualism Disorders

Transsexualism -Symptom, Cause and Treatment

Transsexualism is a Gender Identity Disorder in which there is a strong and on-going cross-gender identification, i.e. a desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex. There is a persistent discomfort with his or her anatomical sex and a sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex. There is a wish to have hormonal treatment and surgery to make one's body as congruent as possible with one's psychological sex.

Transsexualism can be considered to be a neuro-developmental condition of the brain. Several sexually dimorphic nuclei have been found in the hypothalamic area of the brain. Of particular interest is the sexually dimorphic limbic nucleus called the central subdivision of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTc) which appears to become fully volumetrically sexually differentiated in the human brain by early adulthood. This nucleus has also been found to be sexually dimorphic in other mammalian and avian species In human males the volume of this nucleus is almost twice as large as in females and its number of neurons is almost double.

Treatment of Transsexualism

Treatments for transsexualism based on attempting to change the individual's sense of their own true gender have proven ineffective. Accepted treatments are based on helping the transsexual person's body and presentation match their inner sense of their gender, usually through hormone treatment and surgery.

Transsexuals sometimes express their feelings of being different in terms of "living a lie." If there is any fraud involved in being a transsexual, it is the fraud perpetrated by the transsexual before treatment. The person who completes treatment is now the genuine article. He or she has left behind a life of deception and unhappiness. In spite of great odds, he or she has emerged as the person he or she has always been. When you meet a transsexual, you are meeting a person who knows how to love, knows how to appreciate him or herself and, as a result, knows how to love and appreciate others. How many "normal" people can claim that distinction?

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Site last updated: March 4, 2008

Transsexualism Paraphilias Sexual Disorders Guide