Terminology · Applied Exercise
Terminological Precision
The definitions are the easy part. This exercise works through what happens when they are applied.
Before you begin
Terminological precision in this area is both clinically necessary and genuinely challenging, because language is evolving more rapidly than most clinical training programs can accommodate. Four scenarios follow. Each one turns on a distinction that the definitions make and that clinical records routinely collapse.
The full glossary appears at the end.
Estimated time to complete this exercise: 10 minutes
Part 1 of 4
A client assigned female at birth identifies as a man. At work he wears clothing and keeps a presentation that most colleagues read as feminine, and he is not out there. He has raised none of this as a problem.
Which description uses the terminology correctly?
References
- American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
- Hunt, S. (2016). An introduction to the health of Two-Spirit people: Historical, contemporary and emergent issues. National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health.
- Reed, G. M., Drescher, J., Krueger, R. B., Atalla, E., Cochran, S. D., First, M. B., Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., Arango-de Montis, I., Parish, S. J., Cottler, S., Briken, P., & Saxena, S. (2016). Disorders related to sexuality and gender identity in the ICD-11: Revising the ICD-10 classification based on current scientific evidence, best clinical practices, and human rights considerations. World Psychiatry, 15(3), 205–221. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20354
- World Health Organization. (2019). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems (11th ed.). https://icd.who.int/