Abstract

The work traces the history and evolution of the gender identity construct through the diagnostic frameworks of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), and the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM), up to addressing the topic in psychoanalysis. It highlights how, alongside more pathologizing tendencies, both the psychiatric and psychoanalytic fields have embraced theoretical-clinical thinking that, by separating the body from the perceived gender, no longer identify the condition of trans* individuals as pathological. To this end, the work refers to the concepts of embodied self (Lemma), gender creativity (Ehrensaft), and massive gender trauma (Saketopoulou) to understand the depth of the subjective experience of trans* individuals and analyze how thoughts, diagnoses, and words can configure an experience of non-recognition and thus re-traumatization for the patient.