Contemporary Sexuality - March 2009 - (Page 1)

American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists sexuality The international resource for educators, researchers and therapists rior to 1973, a man who was sexually attracted to other men was believed to have a mental disorder. One could look it up. It was right there in the second edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II). However, that year, the American Psychiatric Association removed some of the stigma from gay and lesbian sexuality by removing homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. Subsequent editions of the DSM, published in 1980 (DSM-III) and 1994 (DSM-IV) made other changes to the manual that mental health professionals use to classify a patient’s condition after an evaluation. More diagnoses have since been added to the manual that is widely considered among people in the profession to be the psychiatric bible. The DSM-II listed 182 disorders. The number of disorders cited in the DSM-III jumped to 265 disorders. The current DSM-IV lists 297 disorders among its 886 pages. As hundreds of researchers, clinicians and other experts review scientific literature in peerreviewed journals to develop the fifth edition of the manual, they’ll grapple with whether to increase or decrease the number of disorders in the DSM-V or redefine existing listings. A draft of the DSM-V is due next year, followed by publication of a final version in 2012. There’s plenty of debate over what should be altered in the sexuality-related listings. Transgender experts and activists are divided about whether to fight for removal or inclusion of gender identity disorder (GID). Some researchers, including AASECT members Charles Moser, MD, PhD, and Peggy Kleinplatz, PhD, argue that many of the paraphilias listed in contemporary March 2009 Vol. 43, No. 3 In this issue Creating the DSM-V P Sexual dysfunctions, paraphilias and gender identity disorder work groups are now underway Member Profile . . .3 Meet Stephanie Buehler from Irvine, California AASECT Conference Registration Form and Information . . .7 Register now for the 2009 conference Quick Hits: Sex in the News . . . . . . .11 New CDC report on STIs the DSM are social constructs, not mental abnormalities. And the debate over sexual addiction continues. “Revising the DSM is a massive effort and a responsibility that we take very seriously,” says David J. Kupfer, MD, chair of the DSM-V Task Force. “Our ultimate goal is to have a manual that is based on the best available science and that is useful in a clinical setting.” Kenneth Zucker, MD, of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, chairs the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders work group. That work group has three sub-work groups studying listings in the areas of GID, paraphilias and sexual dysfunctions. (A list of Zucker’s work group appears on page 5.) This article will outline possible issues the GID and paraphilia sub-work groups may be grappling with in the next few years. Gender Identity Disorders According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, people experiencing “strong cross-gender identification and a persistent discomfort with their sex or a sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex” were diagnosed with transsexualism in the DSM-III. In 1994, the DSM-IV changed that diagnosis to GID. Today, as members of the GID sub-work group meet to debate what should be altered in the DSM-V, there’s plenty of discussion about changing the name of the diagnosis, its contents or removing the diagnosis from the DSM. Opponents of civil rights laws sometimes continued on page 4 Book and Media Reviews . . . . . . .12 New books by William Friedrich and Gina Ogden Educational Opportunities . . .15 24 listings in this issue

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Contemporary Sexuality - March 2009 Contents Member Profile AASECT Conference Registration Form and Information Quick Hits: Sex in the News Book and Media Reviews Educational Opportunities

Contemporary Sexuality - March 2009

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