Denmark Sets a Precedent!

Posted on January 7, 2017

Denmark sets a precedent as the first country to remove transgender as a mental health disorder. Transgender was changed in 2013 from being classified as "gender identity disorder" to "gender dysmorphia" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). However, on January 2017, Denmark has removed the classification in hopes to remove stigmatization. Such a change can be compared to when homosexuality was removed as a classified mental disorder in 1973.

Linda Thor Pedersen, part of rights organization LGBT Denmark, says that this movement is crucial and justified because the transgender population can be subjected to wrongful treatment, such as being rejected job opportunities because of the word "diagnosis" and other similar associations.

However, there is still an issue on how to label and guide procedures following a person's distress about his gender identity and wish to go for sex transformation surgery. Denmark will still require some form of psychological evaluation to be completed before any medical intervention is involved. One alternative is to give informed consent of such treatments rather than undergo a psychiatric evaluation, though such a procedure is still being process and may take a few years up to a decade to finalize.

Overall, this movement has initiated a change in the LGBT community and sending a message that transgender individuals are just another member of society who deserve equal human rights as any other person.


Category(s):Gender Identity disorder, Identity Problems

Source material from Scientific American