This happens to be a youtube video explaining the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (or DSM).  It is essentially psychiatrists' go-to manual for diagnosing clients.  Throughout history there have been different "disorders" that have impacted the LGBT community in a huge way.  The most significant was labeling homosexuality as a mental disorder, which has been taken out of the DSM since the 1970s.  My Abnormal Psychology professor puts it best in saying that homosexuality wasn't put in there because it was proven to be a mental disorder, it was put in there because of societies' views and opinions at the time.  Jumping forward, majority of the population now recognizes that homosexuality is most certainly not a disorder and is in fact normal behavior regarding human sexuality.

If you don't have seven minutes and forty-one seconds to spare, here's an overview of the DSM and how it applies to gender and sexuality.  To start off, according to psych.org, the first DSM, or Diagnostic Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, was created around 1952 and was only around 100 pages long.  Now this wasn't just created out of thin air, the DSM was actually a branch off of what the World Health Organization (WHO) calls the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).  The difference between the DSM and the ICD is that the ICD focuses on all types of diseases while the DSM only focuses on diseases effecting the brain (mental disorders).  The DSM is published by the American Psychiatric Association.

According to psychology.about.com, the manual is mainly focused on describing symptoms, giving statistics about which disorder affects which gender, the typical age a disorder begins to be seen, effects of treatment, and types of treatment.  Another important thing to note about the DSM, as mentioned before, is that it is always changing.  One of the big changes that has been added to the DSM-IV TR is that it is based on a five-part "axis".  This helps clinicians to be able to diagnose clients more effectively.  The five axes are as follows:

• Axis I: Clinical Syndromes: This axis offers descriptions of clinical symptoms that can cause impairment.  Disorders are grouped into different categories including anxiety disorders, adjustment disorders, and pervasive development disorders
• Axis II: Personality and Mental Retardation: The disorders present in this axis are long-term and overlooked if if there is an Axis I disorder present.
• Axis III: Medical Conditions: This axis includes physical and mental conditions that may affect or worsen Axis I or II conditions.  Examples of this would be HIV/AIDS or brain injuries.
• Axis IV: Psychosocial or Environmental Problems: Any social or environmental problems that may affect Axis I or II conditions are taken into account here.  Examples of these may be unemployment, divorce, relocation, or death of family or friends.
• Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning: This axis is where the clinician rates the overall functioning of the client.  It gives a better understanding of how the other axes are interacting with each other and how they apply to the client.

With this seemingly full-proof system that the APA has going on, how could anyone get misdiagnosed?    Well if you refer back to the top of this post, it wasn't too long ago that homosexuality was considered a disorder.  Thankfully, it has been removed, but there are other disorders that are still in the DSM that are a concern to the LGBT community as well as women.  What might these be, you ask?  For starters, Gender Identity Disorder is still in the DSM.  From what I've heard from my psychology professors, it is to be removed in the upcoming edition of the DSM.  If you'd like to know more about GID and the controversies surrounding it, stay tuned to see what Brittani Moorer has to say about it and what information she can dig up!  Another disorder that has caused some issues with women and asexuals is Hypoactive Sexual Desire disorder.  This is basically characterized as a lack of sexual fantasies or lack of desire for sexual activity.  It obvious as to why asexuals would be upset about this and it doesn't take much time to ask "Why?" in questioning the reasons for this disorder being specific to women.  Throughout this blog I will explore past and present issues that have gone on in the DSM applying to gender and sexuality.

-Emily Gutman

Hello all!  Welcome to our blog about Gender, Sexuality, and Psychology!

To start off the blog, definitions are in order.  According to the APA (American Psychological Association), psychology can be defined as the study of the mind and behavior.  This field focuses on every nook and cranny of the human experience.  The examples of a few of the vast areas that psychology covers that apa.org gives are the functions of the brain, actions of nations, child development, and care for the aged.  Those only scratch the surface of what psychologists want to uncover.  Since psychology focuses on the mind and behavior, it only takes but a few moments to realize that gender and sexuality are a big topic within psychology.  According to geneq.berkeley.edu, gender can be defined as a socially constructed system of classification that ascribes qualities of masculinity and femininity to people.  It also gives an alternate definition, saying that gender is one's sense of self as masculine or feminine regardless of external genitalia.  Seeing as the second definition is focusing on how a person feels about who they are rather than what they externally "are", it's no wonder that psychologists find gender to be a hot topic.  On the flipside of gender is sexuality, which is about who/what a person is attracted to sexually.  Apa.org defines sexuality as having three stages: desire or an interest in being sexual, excitement or the state of arousal that sexual stimulation causes, and orgasm or sexual pleasure's peaking.

The different areas of psychology that the group members of this blog will be focusing on are: 

• The DSM, more specifically on the disorders surrounding gay, lesbian, trans individuals, and women throughout history.  This group member will try to find out which disorders are more commonly diagnosed for which kind of person.
• Children.  Sub-topics of this will be gender segregation, sexual abuse, and the outcomes of it.  The group member will be taking a look to see if these things have anything to do with how a person identifies themselves through gender as well as their sexuality.
• Gender Identity Disorder (or GID) in adults, children, and looking into the Psychiatric Policy Reform.
• Whether or not there are there physiological differences between men and women, as long as people of various sexualities, and if so, what are they.  She hopes to find articles describing some studies done by experts on this topic, and really give a good understanding of the way the mind works in relation to gender and sexuality.
• The treatment of homosexuals throughout the years as well as the different types of medical treatments they underwent throughout history.

Works Cited:

geneq.berkeley.edu. Gender Equity Resource Center: A Cal Community Center

apa.org. American Psychological Association


- Emily Gutman, Amanda Ranusch, Derek Moskal, Zach Tezak, and Brittani Moorer