Week 2 Discussion

WAL_COUN6720_02_B_EN.pdf

Home >Psychology homework help >Week 2 Discussion

Social Misuse of Diagnosis: Pathologizing Marginalized Populations: Rachel O’Neill, PhD

Social Misuse of Diagnosis: Pathologizing Marginalized Populations: Rachel O’Neill, PhD Program Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

RACHEL O'NEILL: Hi, everyone. I wanted to talk with you about a population that has historically been marginalized by diagnosis. And that is the population of individuals who identify as transgender, or gender nonconforming or non-binary, genderqueer, individuals who simply feel like the gender assigned at birth does not correspond with the gender that they feel.

Historically, individuals who felt that way were diagnosed with something that was called gender identity disorder. In the most recent edition of the DSM, DSM-5, that terminology has changed. And now individuals who feel that they're in the incorrect gender and feel clinically significant distress related to that are diagnosed with gender dysphoria. This is an important distinction because instead of pathologizing individuals for feeling that they're in the wrong gender, it removes that pathology and moves to a space of only diagnosing if the individual experiences that clinically significant distress related to being in the incorrect gender.

I do want to mention that for many people who are meeting criteria for gender dysphoria or not but are transgender individuals, individuals who are non-binary, in order to obtain some of the services that they might want, in particular hormone replacement therapy, surgical treatment for their gender dysphoria, they do tend to have to have the diagnosis of gender dysphoria. So in many ways, gender dysphoria as a diagnosis is a gate that the individual has to go through in order to qualify for some of these other services.

So for example, if you find yourself in a position where you're working with somebody who identifies as perhaps a transgender woman and wants to begin to move forward with seeking hormone replacement therapy, hormone suppression therapy, or perhaps having some surgical procedures, typically any medical professional will require documentation from a mental health professional supporting that this individual does meet criteria for gender dysphoria. So although the diagnosis in and of itself can be pathologizing to a population that does not need to pathologize-- there's nothing inherently wrong with identifying as transgender. There's nothing inherently wrong with identifying as gender nonconforming-- the diagnosis also opens doors.

And so it does, in some ways, become a necessary evil for individuals who may want to seek those treatments. I think that's where our role as mental health professionals is to help folks realize that we're not diagnosing. We're not pathologizing the fact that they may identify as transgender. Rather we're talking about the distress that's associated with being in the incorrect gender, the distress that's associated with feeling that the gender assigned at birth does not correspond with the gender they're experiencing.

Social Misuse of Diagnosis: Pathologizing Marginalized Populations: Rachel O’Neill, PhD

So that's a bit about some of the complexities involved within gender dysphoria. And I hope you enjoy continuing to learn about this and continuing to think about the complexities related to the purpose of the DSM and how diagnoses are rendered.

Social Misuse of Diagnosis: Pathologizing Marginalized Populations: Rachel O’Neill, PhD Content Attribution Studio Cutz daneger/E+/Getty Images Alpha-C/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images mediaphotos/E+/Getty Images Marc Romanelli/Blend Images/ Getty Images Srdjanns74/iStock/Getty Images Plus/ Getty Images Olga Mendenhall/iStock/Getty Images BrianAJackson/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images Ingram Publishing/Getty Images MangoStar_Studio/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images shironosov/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images Vladstudioraw/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images Susan Chiang/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images wernerimages/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images John Lund/Blend Images/Getty Images Mikel Oibar/Nervio Foto/Moment/Getty Images Stocktrek Images/Stocktrek Images/Getty Images Wavebreakmedia Ltd/Wavebreak Media/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

Social Misuse of Diagnosis: Pathologizing Marginalized Populations: Rachel O’Neill, PhD

Blend Images/DreamPictures/Blend Images/Getty Images Monkey Business/stock.adobe.com Prostock-studio/stock.adobe.com joyfotoliakid/stock.adobe.com Prostock-studio/stock.adobe.com freshidea/stock.adobe.com deagreez/stock.adobe.com ajr_images /stock.adobe.com ink drop /stock.adobe.com usanne2688/stock.adobe.com Olesya Shelomova/stock.adobe.com JackF /stock.adobe.com jzehnder/stock.adobe.com fizkes/stock.adobe.com Echo/Cultura/Getty Images