Factors predicting psychiatric co-morbidity in gender-dysphoric adults

Abstract

Persons with gender identity disorder (GID) often suffer from psychiatric co-morbidity, and it is an important prognostic factor for long-term psychosocial adjustment in GID. However, previous research has not addressed the risk factors of psychiatric co-morbidity. In this study, we tried to clarify the risk factors among individuals with GID in Japan. A total of 326 consecutive GID persons were evaluated independently by two senior psychiatrists at the GID clinic using personal clinical interviews and results of examinations. The prevalence of current psychiatric co-morbidity was 17.8% of the total sample. School refusal was significantly associated with psychiatric co-morbidity. Sexual attraction to neither males nor females among GID persons and sexual attraction to females among male-to-female (MtF) GID persons were also significantly related to psychiatric co-morbidity. This is the first report to demonstrate a close relationship between patterns of sexual orientation and psychiatric co-morbidity among GID persons. We should pay more attention to psychiatric co-morbidity, especially among GID persons with non-homosexual sexual orientations.