Psychopathological symptoms in Spanish subjects with gender dysphoria. A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background

Most people with gender dysphoria have to face various stressful conditions, which make them more vulnerable to the development of psychopathological symptoms.

Aims

The main goal was to compare psychopathological symptoms between individuals with gender dysphoria and those from the general population. Other secondary aims were to determine if there were differences between gender [male to females (MtFs) and female to males (FtMs)] and also according to cross-sex hormone therapy.

Method

Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90-R) questionnaire was administered to a sample of 205 subjects with gender dysphoria (MtFs = 129 and FtMs = 76). The control group included 530 individuals from the general population who took part in the Spanish validation of the SCL-90-R questionnaire.

Results

Overall, individuals with gender dysphoria had higher scores on all SCL-90-R dimensions than the general population, except in the dimension of somatization, in which MtF and FtM subjects scored statistically higher than control males but not than control females. The mean scores of all dimensions except Depression (mean score of 1.17) were below 1, that is, between 0 (not at all) and 1 (occasionally). All dimensions did not differ when comparing MtFs and FtMs nor when comparing gender dysphoric subjects with or without cross-sex hormonal therapy.

Conclusions

The results suggested that most subjects with gender dysphoria attending a gender unit reported higher levels of psychopathology than the general population. However, the scores were indicative of the lack of any clinically relevant psychopathological symptoms.

摘要

背景：大多数患有性别焦虑症的人都面临着各种压力条件, 这使得他们更容易出现精神病理症状。

目的：主要目的是比较性别焦虑症患者和普通人群的精神病理症状。其他次要目标是确定性别[男性变女性（MtFs）和女性变男性（FtMs）]之间是否存在差异, 并根据跨性激素治疗进行研究。

方法：采用症状自评量表修订版（SCL-90-R）对205例性别焦虑症患者进行调查（MtFs = 129, FtMs = 76）。对照组包括来自普通人群的530人, 他们参加了SCL-90-R问卷的西班牙验证。

结果：总体而言, 性别焦虑症患者在SCL-90-R的所有维度上的得分都高于一般人群, 但在躯体化维度上, MtF和FtM受试者的得分统计学上高于对照组男性, 但不高于对照组女性。除抑郁（平均分1.17）外, 其余各维度均分均在1以下, 即介于0（完全不）和1（偶尔）之间。在比较MtF和FtM时, 所有维度都没有不同, 在比较接受或不接受跨性别激素治疗的性别焦虑症受试者时, 所有维度也都没有不同。

结论：结果表明, 在性别单位就诊的大多数患有性别焦虑症的受试者报告的精神病理学水平高于普通人群。然而, 这些分数表明没有任何临床相关的精神病理症状。

Keywords:

• Gender dysphoria
• female-to-male transsexuals
• male-to-female transsexuals
• transsexualism
• transgender
• SCL-90-R
• cross-sex hormone therapy
• psychopathology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the research projects granted PGC2018-094919-B-100, PGC2018- 094919-B-C21 and PGC2018-094919-BC22.