Treatment of gender dysphoria (transsexualism)

Gender dysphoria, or transsexualism, is a condition involving incongruity between an individual's anatomic sex and personal sense of gender identity. Only in the last 15 years have Standards of Care been established and a professional organization developed to bring definition and consistency to the field (Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association). A typical course of treatment lasts several years and includes psychological/psychiatric evaluations, completion of the "real life" test, administration of hormone therapy to create desired secondary sex characteristics, and finally sex reassignment surgery. As the field has developed and health-care professionals and the public have become more aware, increasing numbers of individuals are coming forward to seek evaluation and treatment. Published follow-up studies documenting long-term outcome are needed now. Current intervention techniques have progressed beyond the "experimental" stage and can be regarded as accepted medical practice.