ABSTRACT
Therapeutic and medical treatment of transgendered and transsexual people is based on the ability to properly diagnose gender-related difficulties. The clinical guidelines of the standards of care adhere to the diagnostic categories of gender identity disorder as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision or the medical diagnoses of transsexualism as described in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (see Appendix A). In order to treat someone for gender issues, we need to be able to accurately recognize gender identity disorders and ascertain transsexualism. It is this very skill that the gender specialist is expected to excel in and for which the SOC were developed.
