Final answer:
The DSM-5 reclassified 'Gender Identity Disorder' to 'Gender Dysphoria', focusing on distress rather than disordered identity and emphasizing the need for thoughtful care for those whose experienced gender does not align with their birth-assigned gender.
Step-by-step explanation:
The criteria for diagnosing Gender Dysphoria in adolescents and adults have evolved significantly over time. Traditionally, the condition was known as Gender Identity Disorder, a term considered stigmatizing due to its implication of a disorder. The DSM-5, which is the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, reclassified this diagnosis to Gender Dysphoria. This change reflects a shift in understanding: rather than a disordered identity, it emphasizes the distress or dysfunction that arises when one's experienced gender does not align with the gender assigned at birth.
For a diagnosis, the individual must have experienced this incongruence for at least six months and it must have caused significant distress or impairment. This reclassification has implications for access to care, including hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery, and is part of a broader trend towards decreasing discrimination and increasing societal acceptance of transgender individuals. Notably, in 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) made a similar classification change, renaming gender identity disorder to gender incongruence and re-categorizing it under sеxual health, further distancing the condition from the notion of mental disorder.