Skip to main menu Skip to content Skip to footer

Lo sentimos, la página que usted busca no se ha podido encontrar. Puede intentar su búsqueda de nuevo o visitar la lista de temas populares.

Quick Facts on Gender Dysphoria

A brief overview of the signs and symptoms of gender dysphoria, and how it's treated in children and adolescents.

en Español

Overview

Children with gender dysphoria are often referred to as “transgender,” a term that describes someone who does not identify with the sex characteristics he or she was born with. Being transgender is not a psychiatric disorder, but it can be a source of significant stress for children, who often experience bullying, exclusion, and other forms of stigma. Gender dysphoria is diagnosed only if a child experiences severe distress due to being transgender, or has impaired functioning at school, at home, or in social settings.

Symptoms

  • Marked incongruence between the gender a child feels he or she experiences and the gender he or she was biologically assigned to
  • Feelings of being “trapped” inside a body whose gender the child does not identify with
  • Strong preferences for clothing, toys, and activities commonly associated with the opposite gender
  • Assertions by the child that he or she is another gender or plans to grow up to be the other gender
  • Intense dislike for one’s own sexual anatomy
  • Ardent desire to obtain sex characteristics of the gender the child experiences

Treatment of Gender Dysphoria

Psychotherapy can be used to treat gender dysphoria by helping a child understand and manage the stress that gender dysphoria causes.

This article was last reviewed or updated on October 31, 2022.