Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-lrblm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T01:38:57.772Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A European network for the investigation of gender incongruence: The ENIGI initiative

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2020

B.P.C. Kreukels ,
I.R. Haraldsen ,
G. De Cuypere ,
H. Richter-Appelt ,
L. Gijs  and
P.T. Cohen-Kettenis
B.P.C. Kreukels
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Psychology, VU University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 7057, 1007 MB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
I.R. Haraldsen
Affiliation:
Department of Neuropsychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine, Rikshospitalet, 0027Oslo, Norway
G. De Cuypere
Affiliation:
Department of Sexology and Gender problems, University Hospital Ghent, De Pintelaan 185, 9000Ghent, Belgium
H. Richter-Appelt
Affiliation:
Department of Sex Research and Forensic Psychiatry, University Medical Centre, Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246Hamburg, Germany
L. Gijs
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Psychology, VU University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 7057, 1007 MB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
P.T. Cohen-Kettenis*
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Psychology, VU University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 7057, 1007 MB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 20 4442550; fax: +31 20 4443077. E-mail address: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Studies on diagnostic subtypes of gender identity disorder (GID) or gender incongruence (GI), comorbidity and treatment outcome show considerable variability in results. Clinic/country specific factors may account for the contradictory results, but these factors have never been studied. This article is the first of a series reporting on a unique collaborative study of four European gender identity clinics (the European network for the investigation of gender incongruence [ENIGI]). Here, we present the diagnostic procedures of the four clinics (Amsterdam, Ghent, Hamburg, and Oslo), the standard battery of instruments, and the first results regarding applicants with GI who seek treatment. Applicants in the four clinics did not differ in living situation, employment status, sexual orientation, and age of onset of GI feelings. However, the Amsterdam and Ghent clinic were visited by a majority of natal males, whereas Hamburg and Oslo see more natal females. Male applicants were older than female applicants within each country, but female applicants in one country were sometimes older than male applicants in another country. Also, educational level differed between applicants of the four clinics. These data indicate that certain sociodemographic and/or cultural characteristics of applicants have to be taken into account in future studies.

Keywords

TranssexualismGender identity disorderGender incongruenceTransgenderismGender dysphoriaCultural differences
Type
Original articles
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 27 , Issue 6 , August 2012 , pp. 445 - 450
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier Masson SAS 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental Disorders. 4th edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2000.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. DSM V Development. Gender Identity Disorder in Adolescents or Adults. http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx (accessed April 2010).Google Scholar
Appelt, H.Strauß, B.Psychoendokrinologische gynäkologie. 1988 Enke Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Bradburn, N.M.The structure of psychological well-being. Chicago: Aldine; 1969.Google Scholar
Cohen-Kettenis, P.T., Gooren, L.J.Transsexualism: a review of etiology, diagnosis and treatment. J Psychosom Res. 1999; 46: 315–333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen-Kettenis, P.T., van Goozen, S.H.Sex reassignment of adolescent transsexuals: a follow-up study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1997; 36: 263–271.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen-Kettenis, P.T., Pfäfflin, F.The DSM diagnostic criteria for gender identity disorder in adolescents and adults. Arch Sex Behav. 2010; 39: 499–513.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Cuypere, G., Janes, C., Rubens, R.Psychosocial functioning of transsexuals in Belgium. Acta Psychiat Scand. 1995; 91: 180–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Cuypere, G., Van Hemelrijck, M., Michel, A., Carael, B., Heylens, G., Rubens, R.et al.Prevalence and demography of transsexualism in Belgium. Eur Psychiatry. 2007; 22: 137–141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deogracias, J.J., Johnson, L.L., Meyer-Bahlburg, H.F.L., Kessler, S.J., Schober, J.M., Zucker, K.J.The Gender Identity/Gender Dysphoria Questionnaire for adolescents and adults. J Sex Res. 2007; 44: 370–379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Derogatis, L.R.SCL-90: Administration, scoring and procedures manual I for the R(evised) version and other instruments of the psychopathology rating scale series. Baltimore, MD: Clinical Psychometrics Research Unit, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; 1977.Google Scholar
Endicott, J., Spitzer, R.L., Fleiss, J.L., Cohen, J.The Global Assessment Scale. A procedure for measuring overall severity of psychiatric disturbance. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1976; 33: 766–771.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
First, M.B., Gibbon, M., Spitzer, R.L., Williams, J.B.W., Benjamin, L.Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV axis II personality disorders (SCID-II). Washington DC: American Psychiatric Press; 1997.Google Scholar
Gijs, L., Brewaeys, A.Surgical treatment of gender dysphoria in adults and adolescents: recent developments, effectiveness, and challenges. Annu Rev Sex Res. 2007; 18: 178–224.Google Scholar
Gómez-Gil, E., Trilla, A., Salamero, M., Godás, T., Valdés, M.Sociodemographic, clinical, and psychiatric characteristics of transsexuals from Spain. Arch Sex Behav. 2009; 38: 378–392.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gómez-Gil, E., Vidal-Hagemeijer, A., Salamero, M.MMPI-2 characteristics of transsexuals requesting sex reassignment: comparison of patients in prehormonal and presurgical phases. J Pers Assess. 2008; 90: 368–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haraldsen, I.R., Dahl, A.A.Symptom profiles of gender dysphoric patients of transsexual type compared to patients with personality disorders and healthy adults. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2000; 102: 276–281.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association. WPATH standards of care for gender identity disorders, 6th version, http://www.wpath.org/publications_standards.cfm. [accessed 2009].Google Scholar
Hepp, U., Kraemer, B., Schnyder, U., Miller, N., Delsignore, A.Psychiatric comorbidity in gender identity disorder. J Psychosom Res. 2005; 58: 59–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holmes, T.H., Rahe, R.H.The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. J Psychosom Res. 1967; 11: 213–218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kinsey, A.C., Pomeroy, W.B., Martin, C.E.Sexual behavior in the human male. Philadelphia: Saunders; 1948.Google Scholar
Lawrence, A.A.Sexual orientation versus age of onset as specifiers for the diagnosis of gender identity disorder. Arch Sex Behav. 2010; 39: 514–545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, A.A.Societal individualism predicts prevalence of nonhomosexual orientation in male-to-female transsexualism. Arch Sex Behav. 2010; 39: 573–583.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindgren, T., Pauly, I.A body image scale for evaluating transsexuals. Arch Sex Behav. 1975; 4: 639–656.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meyer-Bahlburg, H.F.L.From mental disorder to iatrogenic hypogonadism: dilemmas in conceptualizing gender identity variants as psychiatric conditions. Arch Sex Behav. 2010; 39: 461–476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pfäfflin F, Junge A. Sex Reassignment. Thirty years of international follow-up studies SRS: A comprehensive review, 1961–1991. (English ed.) Symposion Publishing: Düsseldorf, Germany; 1998.Google Scholar
Richter-Appelt, H., Discher, C., Gedrose, B.Gender identity and recalled gender related childhood play-behaviour in adult individuals with different forms of intersexuality. Anthropologischer Anzeiger. 2005; 63: 241–256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sheehan, D.V., Lecrubier, Y., Sheehan, K.H., Amorim, P., Janavs, J., Weiler, E.et al.The mini-international neuropsychiatric interview (MINI): the development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10. J Clin Psychiatry. 59 suppl. 20: 1998 22–33.Google ScholarPubMed
Smith, Y.L., van Goozen, S.H., Kuiper, A.J., Cohen-Kettenis, P.T.Transsexual subtypes: clinical and theoretical significance. Psychiatry Res. 2005; 137: 151–160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ware, J.E., Sherbourne, C.D.The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I Conceptual framework and item selection. Med Care. 1992; 30: 473–483.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization. International statistical classification of disease and related health problems (ICD, 10th revision). Geneva, Switzerland; 1992.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.