Dysphoria/Dysmorphia

I know some people that have had surgery due to dysmorphia issues. They say they feel better now.

Not sure if that means "fixed" I don't know that anyone is ever "fixed". But mental health issues, like physical health issues can get better, to where they are not impacting daily life activities.

I will admit my use of the word 'fix' was a misnomer. That being said, let's realign what this conversation is about. Is it about Body Dysmorphia and Gender Dysphoria? Only one? We keep jumping back and forth between trans people and other groups and it's making it a bit hard for me to nail down what it is we're talking about at any given time.

It's about both. I brought up Body Dysmorphia with transgenders because it seems people only place gender dysphoria with them. I believe that there's the possibility they can suffer from Body Dysmorphia after the reassignment surgery.

Anything's possible, but what's the point you're trying to make here? Yes reassignment surgery carries with it certain risks. That's one of the reasons why a psychiatrist has to sign off on the procedure before it can be done. How people think and feel can be shaped and changed by large events. Getting married, a death in the family, surgery, all of them can spark a change in a persons psyche.

My original point was that it would be a bad idea for them to be taken from the DSM 5. Especially, Gender Dysphoria. How can a counselor be expected to help an individual when people deems it as not a real issue?

I'm not sure what the APA and other organizations state side plan on doing, but the WHO simply decided to change the category of Gender Dysphoria from a mental illness issue to a sexual health one.

Would that affect insurance coverage?

I would think removing it from DSM would.

With it in the DSM it means all transgender persons are “mentally ill” just for existing. Like they removed homosexuality from it years ago. Before if you were gay you were “mentally ill” and need to be “cured”

It’s about legitimizing the existence of the effected people, that their identities are valid. They may still have coping issues (who doesn’t) or body dysmorphia but it is outside of their identity.

I hope that made sense.

I don't really know. If the APA, or whatever standard the company uses to define medical need, doesn't consider sexual health as part of medical need, then it might stop being covered. Sexual health is rather...odd when it comes to insurance. For instance, ED pills are not typically covered under insurance, but corrective implant surgery is. I don't really get it and I don't really know how insurance companies might react to the new classification. Some medication is apparently covered under some insurance plans, but that seems to be at the discretion of the company's selling the plans so I don't really know what will happen there. The ACA attempted to force all plans to cover mental health, but who knows how long that will remain true.

All in all, it's really hard for me to say much of anything substantive here, which may be one of the reasons insurance hasn't really been part of the conversation in the psychiatric community. Most of them apparently privately practice and don't take insurance anyway.

That was the original idea, but those within the APA and many counselors know for a fact that it doesn't mean all transgenders are mentally ill. With that in the DSM 5, it can aid counselors in aiding those who need assistance coping with the change.

But if it - anything - get's "Delisted", doesn't mean all the history and information is deleted.

If it gets re-categorized, the information goes with it.

Are caregivers limited to just what is in the DSM 5?

The DSM-5 is there to aid psychologists and psychiatrists. It doesn't limit them, but at the same time with the removal, that can also lead to many who seek help not wanting help, or unable to seek help. Just like many individuals in various careers, psychologists and psychiatrists come and go. Many of the new ones may not know how to help them, and they may be taught not help them as they may not need help. While it's true that the history may be deemed unimportant, or irrelevant. The most it may be good for is research papers.

The DSM is a double edged sword. Mental health is still stigmatized in this country. Listing it can also lead to many who seek help end up not wanting it, or unable to seek it.

There's a higher chance of helping them with it listed than if it's gone.

I'm not really convinced of that. You yourself said that the DSM doesn't really limit psychiatrists nor psychologists. Honestly, I feel like if the concern is poor education for 'the next generation of psychologists and psychiatrists', then the problems probably less to do with the state of the DSM and more to do with the quality of the teachers.