Gender dysphoria, gender incongruence and gender nonconformity in adolescence - changes and challenges in diagnosis

Psychiatrists, psychotherapists and sexologists specialising in therapy and support of teenage patients have noticed a significant rise in reports of lack of acceptance of the gender assigned at birth, questioning it, rejecting it, and various ways of experiencing it. Although the history of work with transgender adults goes back to the 1920s, gender dysphoria in adolescents remains a complex phenomenon, and any attempts at standardisation of approaches and protocols have so far been unsuccessful. The controversies associated with the issue often result in hasty conclusions and the false - according to the authors of the present paper - assumption that the population of adolescents who experience gender dysphoria or gender incongruence is homogenous. The present article reviews the changes in the diagnoses associated with gender identity made in the DSM and ICD classifications in recent decades, psychological health and neurodiversity of patients reporting gender dysphoria, most common models of treatment, including their advantages and disadvantages, as well as the challenges for diagnosis and treatment in work with this population.