A new study released by the National Autonomous University of Mexico is led by Geoffrey Reed who is also involved with the WHO’s new classification of mental health and behavioural disorders. “Stigma associated with both mental disorder and transgender identity has contributed to the precarious legal status, human rights violations, and barriers to appropriate care among transgender people,” he says.
“Our findings support the idea that distress and dysfunction may be the result of stigmatisation and maltreatment, rather than integral aspects of transgender identity,” says lead investigator Rebeca Robles from the Mexican National Institute of Psychiatry. “The next step is to confirm this in further studies in different countries, ahead of the approval of the WHO revision to International Classification of Diseases in 2018.”
The bigger question that still remains is how to classify transgenders to best avoid their mistreatment. The consistent rate of crimes and acts of violence towards transgenders does make it a global health concern and a few activists have argued that it should feature under the WHO mandate.
Times Of India report.
