The World Health Organization (WHO) will no longer categorise being transgender as a “mental disorder”. According to the newly-revised version of the International Classification of Diseases (known as ICD-11),published by the WHO, “gender identity disorders” have been reframed as “gender incongruence.” Gender incongruence has now been listed under sexual health conditions.
The change was brought in after a major resolution to amend the WHO health guidelines were approved earlier this week on May 25.
Classified under ICD:
Evidence is now clear that gender incongruence is not a mental disorder, and indeed classifying it as such can cause enormous stigma for people who are transgender. Also, there remain significant health care needs that can best be met if the condition is coded under the ICD (International Classification of Diseases). It is expected that the ICD-11 will be implemented by the WHO’s 194 member states over the next three years.
WHO also said that a significant change in the mental disorders section of ICD-11 is the attempt of statisticians to simplify the codes as much as possible to allow for coding of mental health conditions by primary health care providers rather than by mental health specialists. This will be a critical move since the world still has a scarcity of mental health specialists, up to 9 out of 10 people needing mental health care don’t receive it.
Benefits:
The WHO’s removal of gender identity disorder from its diagnostic manual will have a liberating effecton transgender people worldwide
In India:
In India, psychiatrists at an individual level have stopped treating transgender as a mental health condition. With this move, the Indian government will have to make the changes in the medical systems and laws that require this now officially outdated diagnosis.
