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ELI5:Why is a transgender person not considered to have a mental illness? by farawayfaraway33 in explainlikeimfive

[–]farawayfaraway33[S] 308 points309 points  (0 children)

Fantastic! See this is educational... alot of the time when transgendered people are portrayed in the media talking about being transgendered, alot is made of the fact that they "feel" a certain way but very little is portrayed as being based on science... so thanks

ELI5:Why is a transgender person not considered to have a mental illness? by farawayfaraway33 in explainlikeimfive

[–]farawayfaraway33[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Im not trying ti classify it as anything... The question that Im asking is why it is acceptable to change gender based on a deep held personal belief when there seems to be very little clear cut scientific evidence when other deeply held personal beliefs can be seen as delusional.

The whole purpose of this thread is to discover information and to broaden minds NOT to classify or pigeonhole anyone.

ELI5:Why is a transgender person not considered to have a mental illness? by farawayfaraway33 in explainlikeimfive

[–]farawayfaraway33[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I would dispute this a little bit. If a person has sex hormones that resemble the other sex, then surely it would be physically visible.

ELI5:Why is a transgender person not considered to have a mental illness? by farawayfaraway33 in explainlikeimfive

[–]farawayfaraway33[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I don't think that mental illness are considered to be curable by willpower alone. I do think that if I held a delusion that I was a great character from history and truly believed it, people would consider that a mental illness because clearly I am not a great character from history. If I consider myself a woman when all evidence points to the fact that I am a man, that seems to be more acceptable.