Open AccessA Short History of a Controversial Diagnosis
Author(s) -
Alexandro Fortunato,
Guido Giovanardi,
Valeria DʼAngelo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ricerca psicoanalitica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2037-7851
pISSN - 1827-4625
DOI - 10.4081/rp.2020.259
Subject(s) - psychoanalytic theory , construct (python library) , theme (computing) , identity (music) , psychology , variance (accounting) , field (mathematics) , medical diagnosis , developmental psychology , psychoanalysis , sociology , medicine , computer science , aesthetics , art , mathematics , accounting , pathology , pure mathematics , business , programming language , operating system
This work retraces the history of gender identity, a construct which came to light at the end of the sixties, and whose path we will follow up until the present day. In detail, the work focuses on the situations in which a person – belonging to what is commonly known as the trans* world – lives with a lack of correspondence between assigned birth gender and actual gender experience. We will revisit the different diagnoses connected to gender variance – in childhood, adolescence and adulthood – that have been put forward, and examine the different diagnostic classifications that have been used up to now, in order to reach the discussion of this theme in a psychoanalytic field. We will highlight how, alongside pathologizing theories, the psychiatric and psychoanalytic fields have become enriched via theoretical and clinical knowledge that enhance and recognize the depth of the subjective experience of trans* people, without stopping therefore, at a simply reductive diagnosis.