Case Report: Doubts and Pre-occupations About Being Transgender: Questioning One's Gender Identity or a Case of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

Elias Aboujaoude; Vladan Starcevic

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.644114

Case Report: Doubts and Pre-occupations About Being Transgender: Questioning One's Gender Identity or a Case of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

Front Psychiatry. 2021 Mar 30:12:644114. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.644114. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Elias Aboujaoude¹, Vladan Starcevic^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, United States.
² Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney Medical School, Nepean Clinical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Nepean Hospital, Penrith, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

We report the case of a biological female with gender identity-related doubts that were misconstrued as suggesting obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The patient's parent seemed to favor an OCD explanation for the gender-based self-questioning over acceptance of possible transgender identity. We discuss what OCD is and what it is not in the context of gender identity-based doubt; analogy with the better studied sexual orientation-related OCD; cultural flashpoints around sex and gender that can become the object of OCD; how confusion about biological sex, assigned gender and gender identity can lead to clinical harm; and the role of mental health professionals in fighting the stigma faced by gender minorities.

Keywords: discrimination; gay; gender; gender dysphoria; lesbian; obsessive-compulsive disorder; sexual orientation; transgender.

Publication types

Case Reports