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