Transsexuality and adjustment disorders

Transsexualism or Gender Identity Disorder, as it appears in the DSM-IV, is defined by "the presence of a strong and persistent identification with the opposite sex and a persistent sense of discomfort with their gender or a sense of inadequacy in the gender role of that sex" The Transsexual says that he is not a sick person and that, anatomically, his body is not the real one, that he is located in a wrong body. This idea means, for us psychologists, a mental disorder, a "delusional identification". It is a confusion between sex (biology) and gender (role), which comes from Sigmund Freud's idea that biology should determine our life, personality and behavior ("anatomy is destiny" - S. Freud).