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A Brief History of Sexuality and Gender Identity Diagnostic Codes


DSM


1952: In the DSM I, homosexuality was first listed as a sociopathic personality disturbance. 

1968: In the DSM II, homosexuality is classified as a paraphilia disorder; “transvestitism” first introduced under “sexual deviations.” 

1973: Homosexuality is no longer classified as a mental health disorder in the DSM. 

1980: In the DSM III, “ego-dystonic homosexuality” appeared and addressed discomfort with one’s sexual orientation; “transvestitism” is changed to “transsexualism” and “gender identity disorder of childhood” under “psychosexual disorders.” 

1987: In the DSM III-R “ego-dystonic homosexuality” was removed and subsumed under “sexual disorder not otherwise specified” which can include “persistent and marked distress about one’s sexual orientation.” DSM IV retained “sexual disorder not otherwise specified.” 

1994-2000: In DSM-IV (1994) and DSM-IV-TR (2000) these definitions were collapsed into one overarching diagnoses of “gender identity disorder” with different criteria for children versus adolescents and adults, and moved under the parent category “sexual and gender identity disorders.” 

2013: DSM-V reclassified diagnoses as “gender dysphoria” with different criteria for children versus adolescents and adults and remains problematic as a pathologizing classification and in practice acts as a barrier to care. 

ICD

1948: Homosexuality first introduced as diagnoses in ICD-6 under categories specifically related to sexual functioning or sexual disorders. 

1965: ICD-8 includes “lesbianism” and “sodomy” as diagnoses, “transvestitism” listed as a mental disorder under “sexual deviations.” 

1975: ICD-9 classifies homosexuality under categories related to sexual functioning or sexual disorders, and sexual deviations and disorders; also includes “trans-sexualism.” 

1990: ICD-10 removed homosexuality as diagnoses and instead listed “sexual maturation disorder, Ego-dystonic sexual orientation, and sexual relationship disorder” under “psychological and behavioral disorders associated with sexual development and orientation.” 

1990: ICD-10 included a series of diagnoses under “gender identity disorders:” transsexualism, dual-role transvestitism, gender identity disorder of childhood, other gender identity disorders, and gender identity disorder unspecified. 

2019: The proposed ICD-11 has removed all of these diagnoses. The WHO Working Group on the Classification of Sexual Disorders and Sexual Health “found no evidence that they are clinically useful: they neither contribute to health service delivery or treatment selection nor provide essential information for public health surveillance.” 


Source: 

Jack Drescher (2015). Queer diagnoses revisited: The past and future of homosexuality and gender diagnoses in DSM and ICD, International Review of Psychiatry, 27:5, 386-395.