APA Dictionary of Psychology

a disorder included in DSM-III through DSM–IV–TR, and completely replaced as a diagnostic class by gender dysphoria in DSM–5 and DSM-5-TR. It was described as clinically significant distress or impairment of functioning due to cross-gender identification (i.e., a desire to be or actual insistence that one is of the other sex) and persistent discomfort arising from the belief that one’s sex or gender is inappropriate to one’s true self. The disorder was distinguished from simple dissatisfaction or nonconformity with gender roles. The category gender identity disorder not otherwise specified was used to classify gender-related disorders distinct from gender identity disorder, such as gender dysphoria related to congenital differences of sex development or intersex, or preoccupation with castration or penectomy (removal of the penis). In DSM-5 and DSM-5-TR, gender dysphoria emphasizes the clinical significance of the possible distress arising from a sense of incongruence one may have between one’s experienced gender and one’s assigned gender (see transgender).