World Health Organization May Finally Declassify Transgender Identity as Mental Disorder
The World Health Organization might just overturn a decades-old disease classification and in the next edition of their codebook remove Transgender Identity as a mental illness. Thus far, all committees involved, who have taken it under consideration, have approved its dismissal. “It’s sending a very strong message that the rest of the world is no longer considering it a mental disorder,” says Dr Michael First (clinical psychiatry professor at Columbia and the chief technical consultant on the WHO codebook). While it’s a great and important step forward, the decision (like many before it) will come with several significant issues surrounding language and the sensitivity of linguistics pertaining to illness, sexuality and identity. Read more at the New York Times.
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