A preliminary report on transsexualism in Northern Ireland.

TRANSSEXUALISM may be defined as a disturbance of gender identity in which the patient's biological sex is incongruent with their psychological sex, and they persistantly seek to live as a member of the opposite sex, that is, in keeping with their desired or psychological sexual role. This is a descriptive study of 32 patients who were referred to the Department of Mental Health, Queen's Univrsity, Belfast, expressing a desire to live as a member of the opposite sex. When patients present with this phenomenon a differential diagnosis of transsexualism, transvestism and male/female homosexuality must be considered. Transvestism is a condition where an individual finds it necessary to dress in clothes of the opposite sex in order to maintain, but often to initiate, sexual arousal and a homosexual is one who seeks sexual satisfaction from individuals of the same sex. Twenty-eight of the patients were diagnosed as transsexual, two as transvestite and the remaining two homosexual. The 28 transsexual patients, 21 males and seven females, will now be considered in detail.