Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender-Nonconforming People, Version 7

ABSTRACT

The Standards of Care (SOC) for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People is a publication of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). The overall goal of the SOC is to provide clinical guidance for health professionals to assist transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming people with safe and effective pathways to achieving lasting personal comfort with their gendered selves, in order to maximize their overall health, psychological well-being, and self-fulfillment. This assistance may include primary care, gynecologic and urologic care, reproductive options, voice and communication therapy, mental health services (e.g., assessment, counseling, psychotherapy), and hormonal and surgical treatments. The SOC are based on the best available science and expert professional consensus. Because most of the research and experience in this field comes from a North American and Western European perspective, adaptations of the SOC to other parts of the world are necessary. The SOC articulate standards of care while acknowledging the role of making informed choices and the value of harm reduction approaches. In addition, this version of the SOC recognizes that treatment for gender dysphoria i.e., discomfort or distress that is caused by a discrepancy between persons gender identity and that persons sex assigned at birth (and the associated gender role and/or primary and secondary sex characteristics) has become more individualized. Some individuals who present for care will have made significant self-directed progress towards gender role changes or other resolutions regarding their gender identity or gender dysphoria. Other individuals will require more intensive services. Health professionals can use the SOC to help patients consider the full range of health services open to them, in accordance with their clinical needs and goals for gender expression.

KEYWORDS:

• Transexual
• transgender
• gender dysphoria
• Standards of Care

Acknowledgments

This is the seventh version of the Standards of Care. The original SOC were published in 1979. Previous revisions were in 1980, 1981, 1990, 1998, and 2001.

Notes

Formerly the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association.

The Standards of Care (SOC), Version 7, represents a significant departure from previous versions. Changes in this version are based upon significant cultural shifts, advances in clinical knowledge, and appreciation of the many health care issues that can arise for transsexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming people beyond hormone therapy and surgery (Coleman, 2009a, 2009b, 2009c, 2009d).

Incidence—the number of new cases arising in a given period (e.g., a year).

Prevalence—the number of individuals having a 4035 condition, divided by the number of people in the general population.

Gender-nonconforming behaviors in children may continue into adulthood, but such behaviors are not necessarily indicative of gender dysphoria and a need for treatment. As described in section III, gender dysphoria is not synonymous with diversity in gender expression.