Process Toward Consensus on Recommendations for Revision of the DSM Diagnoses of Gender Identity Disorders by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health

Abstract

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) is recognized as the leading authority in the field of transgender health, through a membership that encompasses experts in this field and transgender community representatives. WPATH therefore is in an excellent position to give input on the DSM 5 section on gender identity disorders. To streamline the ideas of the membership, the authors, all elected officers of the association, organized a consensus-building process beginning January 2009 to arrive at recommendations for removal or reform of the DSM 5 diagnoses. This article describes this process, how the various work groups were formed, and the topics covered in the work group discussions. In addition, this article reports on a face-to-face meeting held with all of the consensus participants and work groups in conjunction with the 2009 biennial conference of WPATH in Oslo, Norway, where a consensus was reached on several issues. The outcome of this face-to-face meeting was subsequently discussed during a plenary session at the conference, which many WPATH members attended. After a description of this process, we introduce the nine articles written by each of the working groups and an executive summary with a set of recommendations for the DSM 5 Work Group on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders.

Keywords:

• Gender identity disorder
• transgender
• transsexual
• DSM

Gail Knudson, MD, is a psychiatrist and clinical associate professor in the Department of Sexual Medicine, University of British Columbia, and medical director of the Transgender Health Program, Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Griet De Cuypere, MD, is a psychiatrist and the gender team coordinator in the Department of Sexology and Gender Problems, University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium. Walter Bockting, PhD, is a psychologist and coordinator of Transgender Health Services and associate professor at the Program in Human Sexuality, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.