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What changed in the criteria for Gender Dysphoria in Children?

User Noobzie
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Final answer:

Gender Dysphoria in children is now diagnosed with an emphasis on less stigma, requiring a verbalized desire for another gender and marked distress for at least six months, according to the DSM-5. The WHO reclassified gender identity disorder to gender incongruence under sexual health. Legal recognition has also evolved, as seen in Germany's law for intersex children.

Step-by-step explanation:

The criteria for diagnosing Gender Dysphoria in children have undergone significant changes, most notably in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5). The older term 'Gender Identity Disorder' has been replaced with 'Gender Dysphoria' to reduce stigma, and the DSM-5 now requires the presence of a marked incongruence between one's experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender for at least six months, resulting in significant distress or dysfunction. Children must verbalize a desire to be of another gender to be diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria. This condition is now categorized separately from sexual dysfunctions and paraphilias.

The World Health Organization (WHO) also made a shift in 2019 by reclassifying 'gender identity disorder' as 'gender incongruence' and placing it under the category of sexual health rather than as a mental disorder. Acknowledging the complexities of gender identity, legislations like the one in Germany in 2013 have allowed intersex children to be designated as indeterminate on legal documents to self-assign the appropriate gender once they have developed their own gender identities.

User Lifeofguenter
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