In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association updated its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), replacing “gender identity disorder” with “gender dysphoria.”

This change in the DSM-5 towards a less stigmatizing term signaled a shift in terminology on the transgender community.

“The new diagnosis recognized that a mismatch between one’s birth gender and identity was not necessarily pathological, notes pediatric endocrinologist Norman Spack, a founder of the gender clinic at Boston Children’s Hospital. It shifted the emphasis in treatment from fixing a disorder to resolving distress over the mismatch.” (Scientific American, “Where Transgender is No Longer a Diagnosis”)