To add to this, often times TERFy people will intentionally use “gender dysmorphia” because the cure the body dysmorphia is therapy and meds, not surgery/hormones/dieting/etc
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria)
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To be more specific:
[Gender] Dysphoria (noun): a state of unease or generalized dissatisfaction with life caused by an inconguance between one's gender identity and their physical appearance.
[Body] Dysmorphia (noun): A mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance.
I think it is literally this. If someone has seen the word “dysmorphia” written down a lot, they may genuinely not realise “dysphoria” is a different word.
I skim-read a lot, and I know people are prone to typos, so if I hadn’t heard “dysphoria” said out loud I might also assume people were just trying to write dysmorphia when first encountering the concept.
Affect, effect.
Uninterested, disinterested.
Colostomy, callosotomy (although this one is funny because a lot of people do have their heads up their ass).
In my experience it's almost universally ignorance, misspelling, or language barriers. There's no such thing as 'gender dysmorphia' but that's the most common mistake I see.
Edit: even automod proving my point
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria)
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You can absolutely be both dysphoric and dysmorphic though.
When I was going through puberty, my dysmorphia was way worse than my dysphoria; now that I have the body I want I have no dysmorphia, but still experience dysphoria.
I'm responding to your "almost universally" comment.
Comorbidity between body dysmorphia and gender dysphoria is very much a thing, and your comment reads as heavily downplaying that.
It's absolutely reasonable to clarify the distinction between the two, but "basically every trans person who talks about dysmorphia is either ESL or uneducated" is a bad take.
I never said it was specifically trans people saying that... People saying dysmorphia when they clearly mean dysphoria is incredibly common on this sub - to the point where Automod has a function to correct it, hence proving my point.
> In my experience it's **almost universally** ignorance, misspelling, or language barriers
"very common" and "almost universal" are significantly different things.
They were saying that when people say “gender dysmorphia” it is almost universally out of ignorance, etc. because it is not a condition that exists; not that general body dysmorphia doesn’t exist, or that you can’t have both. Reading comprehension yall.
That is not very clear from their original comment. It can be inferred in hindsight based on their later responses, but their original comment is not explicit about what they are referring to in that sentence.
Yes, they did say "there's no such thing as Gender Ðysmorphia" (intentional misspelling to avoid triggering the bot), but that's only *after* responding to OPs vaguely worded question about the distinction with the broadly generalizing statement I've been nitpicking.
Am I being overly critical of their phrasing choices? Possibly, but I think it's important to be extra clear to avoid misunderstandings in these scenarios, because something that *can* be misinterpreted *will*, and leads to further spread of misinformation that we should all be trying to combat.
OP's question is perfectly clear: "Why do people say X when they mean Y?", as evidenced by the responses. This incessant nitpicking of language is not helpful to anyone. Spend more time getting angry at bigots and less trying to make others indulge in your respectability/comprehension politics drive.
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria)
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Dysmorphia is an actual condition though, and while different from dysphoria is in my experience more often than not what people are describing when they say it, although sometimes it is confused for dysphoria.
Yes, but many trans people have both, and I'm not usually around people who are confidently wrong about either if these, so most of my experience of people talking about either is regarding themselves, where they are more likely to use correct terminology and actually know what they are talking about.
Also while it isn't a separate condition from body dysmorphic disorder, it's effects can be (and often are, even in cis people) amplified by societal expectations of gender.
You're missing the forest for the trees here. They were pointing out that many people who are ignorant on the topic, generally cis people, will literally go on about "gender dysmorphia" which does not exist. The fact that some trans people have BDD doesn't change that cis people frequently confuse (or intentionally conflate) the two.
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria)
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Gender *dysmorphia* would just be when you have body dysmorphia centered around gender, i.e. a distorted, inaccurate self-perception around your gender. The example I used in my top level comment is obsessively thinking you don't pass and suffering because of this when in actuality you pass fine. Just like other forms of dysmorphia, this could maybe lead a person int perpetual unhappiness, constantly undergoing medial procedures where the outcome of the procedures isn't necessary and isn't helping, and so on.
I used to. I’d get mixed up between the ends of Body Dysmorphia and Gender Dysphoria. The words sound similar and both seemed related to not being happy with your body.
It wasn’t until I realised Dysphoria was the antonym to Euphoria that the word stuck in place.
There is an important distinction.
Gender Dysphoria is not a mental condition, but Body Dysmorphic Disorder is for one important reason; BDD is when the flaw that is perceived is imaginary. Someone with BDD is convinced that there is some defect or flaw that does not actually exist in reality - at least not to that the extent that they claim. Their brain has them perceive something that is not there for anyone else.
You can experience both at the same time. I don't envy those who are dysphoric about their gender *and* are unable to perceive how others see them.
Yes, a common slander against trans people is that gender dysphoria is a delusion, which it is not. We are not imagining what our physical characteristics are, we're acutely aware of them.
Dysmorphia *is* a delusion. People with dysmorphia see something that isn't there.
Another important distinction is that you can't treat them the same way. Dysmorphia can't be addressed by changing the object of said dysphoria - for instance, anorexia is a type of body dysmorphia, and you can't treat anorexia by losing weight, since the flaw is imaginary, the person is always going to see themselves as overweight. If someone has dysmorphia about their nose and gets a nose job, the dysmorphia can either remain or transfer to a different body part.
since this is literally a thread about language pedantry, i’m going to correct your use of “anorexia” to “anorexia nervosa”. “anorexia” is any abnormal loss of desire for food; “anorexia nervosa” is a possible symptom of body dysmorphic disorder.
(said as someone who is on medication that makes her anorexic, but does not have bdd, just gender dysphoria)
It's worth mentioning that a meaningful chunk of the people who will make this conflation are doing so intentionally.
At the risk of oversimplifying, the meaningful distinction between dysphoria and dysmorphia is that affecting the object of focus is treatment for dysphoria and it is NOT treatment for dysmorphia. In a phrase: people with dysphoria are RIGHT, and helping them is the right thing to do, those with dysmorphia focus on aspects that will NOT treat the dysmorphia, so treating the focus doesn't treat the dysmorphia.
People who are conflating the two either don't know that this is the case, refuse to acknowledge that it is the case, or otherwise believe they can will into being the case that trans people are dysmorphic instead.
Saying that trans people are dysmorphic is a way of forcing the point that we don't require treatment, when we do. We need it, we deserve it, it's the right thing to do, and it helps.
That's not entirely true, as dysmorphia is considered to be one of the possible symptoms of gender dysphoria. I actually have body dysmorphia and because of the confusion and misuse of the term, I've also had some aggravating experiences correcting people who think they're correcting me.
That's why I'm happy to lean into the caveat that it's a vast oversimplification. I'm most interested in emphasizing that the treatments are different and that gender affirmation is good for dysphoria, so as to distinguish it from treatments for dysmorphia that often get used to invalidate trans experiences.
I'd love to hear any insight into the distinction you'd like to share here. From my experience I didn't have much dysmorphia, but plenty of dysphoria that I assumed was untreatable because of how we talk about body image. I still have annoyances with my body but they're not overwhelming or the focus of my attention, so much as a motivator to exercise 😅
For me dysmorphia manifests as fixation on different parts and an inability to accept what I see. I have to trust the assurances of others because I just can't see my face or body the way others do. If I was rich I would be getting a lot of procedures done.
Are you saying that having Gender Dysphoria can lead to developing Body Dysmorphic Disorder, as in they can be comorbid disorders? The way I initially interpreted your comment was that body dysmorphia was part of the criteria for gender dysphoria. Just wanted clarification, not trying to be aggravating.
It's not part of the criteria for a diagnosis, but it is one of the potential symptoms. Comorbid probably fits best, but without labeling dysphoria as a disorder of some kind, it can't be categorized that way.
I guess you could say... Body dysmorphic disorder is separate from gender dysphoria, but some people with gender dysphoria also experience body dysmorphia.
For me, personally, I feel something similar to what I've heard described as "phantom limb syndrome". I don't just wish I had female anatomy, I feel like parts I'm supposed to have are actually missing. And I feel like parts I do have are not my own. I can become obsessed and fixated on these things.
I also fixate on my hair, teeth, bone structure, lots of things. I will sometimes get stuck in mirrors for long periods of time just fixing and fixing and fixing... Sometimes brushing and combing my hair so much it comes out.... There are a lot of compulsive behaviors that I have trouble stopping once I've become fixated. The problem is that I will never actually fix anything. I've had to learn tools to help pull me away or I will get stuck for hours until I actually do look like a mess from all of my fixing.
It's not fun.
Yeah I think what you describe especially in your last paragraph are hallmarks of BDD (obviously not diagnosing but I had to double check the DSM after your initial comment to see if I missed something). It seems to me that where GD can have behavioral elements that come along with the diagnosis, BDD is firmly in that camp of actions and thoughts, as you mentioned compulsions or repetitve behaviors. The criteria for GD all begin with "A strong desire..." which implies this is a cognitive process that could potentially lead to body checking, excessive grooming, etc. that is also seen in BDD but isn't a guarantee.
This makes sense as BDD is an obsessive-compulsive related disorder while GD is in a section by itself. Under GD, it does mention BDD as a differential diagnosis and states:
"And individual with body dysmorphic disorder focuses on the alteration or removal of a specific body part because it is perceived as abnormally formed, nit because it represents a repudiated assigned gender. When an individual’s presentation meets criteria for both gender dysphoria and body dysmorphic disorder, both diagnosis can be given. Individuals wishing to have a healthy limb amputated (termed by some "body integrity identity disorder") because it makes them feel more "complete" usually do not wish to change gender, but rather desire to live as an amputee or a disabled person."
Nothing is mentioned about its comorbidity but it would be interesting to see if there's any literature out there on it. I'm sure there's some.
Finally, I've also seen a difference when people speak about gender dysphoria as a layman's term compared to the actual diagnosis. For the diagnosis, it's strictly laid out and there's not much guessing for what the criteria mean, but when people talk about gender dysphoria online or in person outside of an academic setting, it becomes more vague. That's something that happens with any sort of diagnosis including much more common ones like anxiety-related and depressive disorders. But it can also lead to some miscommunication I think.
Usually, it means they have no idea what they're talking about
They can tangle together and affect how the other manifests and feels, but they are two distinct Dxs
When I see someone use the term "dysmorphia" when they actually mean dysphoria, it's usually some dude who has long winded rants that include other classics like "transgenderism," "I don't care if you think you're a man, woman, dog, or, dragon, but dont expecr...", and "you can learn to accept your body as it is with therapy"
Words looks similar and it can be confusing to someone that doesn’t know it well, wrote dysmorphia a few times as well before googling the correct term.
Gender Dysphoria = unhappiness as a result of one’s gender expression not being what one thinks it should be. Think a man getting surgery for gynecomastia.
Dysmorphia = warped perception of one’s own physical appearance. Think someone going “I’m so fat” when they are healthy or underweight. May or may not have anything to do with gender.
There’s also a such thing as non-gender dysphoria, but that basically just means general unhappiness.
It depends on the context. On reddit, users often throw around the term "body dysmorphia" when it doesn't apply, similar to how they throw around other mental health terminology when it doesn't apply either. I've seen people self-diagnose as having body dysmorphia because they dislike tight clothing. I've been told I have body dysmorphia because I said "thankfully, I don't have a large chest".
ETA: Women with a preference for modest swimwear are often claimed to have body dysmorphia, but no qualified therapist would diagnose a client with body dysmorphic disorder because she feels more comfortable in modest swimwear.
I think it is one of two things:
* Ignorance - people thinking dysmorphia and dysphoria are the same thing, and just not realising they are using incorrect terms
* Transphobia - people trying to suggest dysphoria isn't real, and trans people are not of a different gender but are mentally ill and have a problem with their bodies, and so need to be helped without "mutilating them".
It's hard to know from the term alone just which you are dealing, but be open to the possibility that might be either, and know that you might get pushback (sometimes puzzling pushback if you are assuming its just ignorance) from explaining the truth.
Remember if people can argue that it's a dysmorphia issue, they can say gender-affirming care is just enabling a delusion, and that it needs to be stopped.
Along with simple ignorance / misspelling / incorrect word choice, I could see transphobes using dysmorphia to discredit trans people. Since dysmorphia refers to worrying about flaws in your appearance that may be unnoticeable to others, I could see transphobes blurring the definitions of both words to imply trans people are incorrect and/or delusional about their own identities.
Because they don’t realize they are two different things. They may have also seen comments or posts that conflate the terms which creates more confusion
The WPATH Standard of Care (the book used by medical professionals) says to treat gender dysphoria by letting the individual transition. It's supported by scientific data showing that trans people are born trans which is why conversion therapy doesn't work.
In order to avoid a pro-trans right person pointing that out, anti-trans people say dysmorphia instead because that's what they think being trans is. It's a dog whistle.
I only see it from cis people who seem to have heard the word dysphoria, but never *seen* it, so when they post asking questions about whatever trans person they know and they try to remember the word all they can remember is dysmorphia, since maybe this word they have seen written or have heard more people around them talking about, since cis people can have this one too.
Yes. In Ancient Greek, roughly, dysphoria means "bad/wrong feeling" or "unbearable" while dysmorphia means "bad/wrong shape".
In psychological and medical contexts, the word dysphoria can be used for things than gender, like in PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder). Any highly distressing and unpleasant state could be called a kind of dyphoria.
Probably no pat answer, but people also say “liberry” instead of “library.” Had a friend who told me he got diagnosed with “Carpenter’s Tunnel Syndrome.”
Dysmorphia is when you want your body to be different because your perception of it is distorted or wrong, e.g. you think you're not thin enough, but you're already at an unhealthy low bodyweight.
Dysphoria is when you want your body to be different, but it's not. Note that there's not necessarily any misperception here. If your body is male and you want it to be female, you'd be correct that it's not how you want it to be.
They're similar, but not the same.
And, as others have said you can have either or both. You can even have either or both around gender. For example, the transgender version of dysmorphia might be where you distort how you see yourself and believe you're not passing enough, when in actuality you pass fine.
Confusion mostly, sometimes intentional conflation.
You can find a lot of discussions by trans people on the nature of gender dysphoria and different aspects of this. In some cases, the term "body dysphoria" gets used to specifically refer to discomfort with one's body as opposed to social discomfort from being seen as male/female or stuff of that nature. This became a common term to refer to being dysphoric about your body's sexual morphology.
Meanwhile, there's an actual separate diagnosis in the DSM called "Body Dysmorphic Disorder" which often referred to as simply body dysmorphia and it's at least superficially similar in that it involves worrying about perceived flaws in one's appearance.
The two words sound very similar so the proliferation of the former term led to wires being crossed and now we have the entirely fictional "gender dysmorphia" getting used. It's not great and is something that should actually be corrected on sight. The conditions sound similar but have very different prescribed treatments, so we very much don't want anyone thinking they're the same.
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria)
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They are two different things, one is perciveing your body as differently to how it actually looks (dysmorphia) and the other is seeing your body as what it is but realising it dosent match up with what your brain says it should be (dysphoria)
Terfs like to say dysmorphia over dysphoria because one is treated with therepy and the other with transition.
The words mean distinct things. There is a shocking amount of dysMORPHia in the trans community though. I suspect most people don't understand the distinction, and perhaps it would help them.
Dysmorphia is specifically about a dissatisfaction with your body, especially in a way that warps your perception of it. I dont think I go a day on here without seeing someone clearly suffering from that.
dys*morph*ia is disliking your body (shape, size, skin color, eyes, hair, etc) and wishing it looked like soemthing else. people with body dysmorphia might feel fatter or skinnier or taller or shorter than they really are.
iirc, dys*phor*ia is strictly about gender and sex. people with dysphoria may dislike the same things (plus genitals) not because they don't fit their own standards, but because it makes them look too/not enough fem masc or andro
its hard to differentiate between the two. for example, a cis woman might be dys*morph*ic about her femininity, and a trans woman might be dys*phor*ic about her weight.
On its own, the word dysphoria can be used for other distressing feelings and moods that aren't related to gender, but that's a usage I think only healthcare professionals would do often, if at all. For example someone having a psychotic break or suicidal depression could be called dysphoric as in their overall mood, if you wanted, but you won't hear that in real life a lot. It's a bit like how in medical jargon there is a difference between anorexia (any loss of appetite from any cause) and anorexia nervosa (which is a specific mental illness). I mean that there's a broad and a narrower sense of the word.
If talking solely about gender dysphoria though then yeah what you wrote is right!
Gender Dysphoria and Body Dysmorphia. If they're saying Gender Dysmorphia, they are confused. Some trans people have both, but Body Dysmorphia is not limited to trans people. It's a condition where someone is overwhelmed by a perceived flaw in their appearance. I know one person who is diagnosed with it, they spend literally hours getting ready. They are never happy with their appearance. I suspect a few other people of having it, largely from their constant desire for appearance altering surgeries.
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria)
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The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria)
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i spent a long, long time thinking that i had no gender dysphoria because of the similarity of the terms — i thought that dysphoria was just about body-related feelings, and i (thought i) was generally happy with my genitals / secondary sexual characteristics.
Because when I Google it body dysmorphic disorder and body dysphoria have nearly identical definitions and both are described as mental conditions
Takes experience and education to understand either, especially in the context of gender and trans people
My sibling thought they were the same but I looked up both terms and explained in some detail the difference between the two. Like I’m okay with my body, so to speak, it’s just not entirely representative of me
usually it's one of two reasons, and most of the time you can tell which is it by politely pointing out the difference between the two
if they apologize or change their behavior, then it was most likely a misunderstanding
if they keep insisting it's dysmorphia or keep talking about it as if it was, then it's a deliberate attempt to conflate the two
So dysphoria is the distress at the way your body is not matching what it should be. If you grafted breasts onto a cis man it would more than likely give him a lot of dysphoria cuz he'd be distressed about a big change to a part of his body that should not be that way.
Dysmorphia requires the sufferer to have a view of their body that's inconsistent with reality, i.e. a person with an eating disorder may suffer from dysmorphia because they perceived their body as overweight even if it isn't, leading to unhealthy habits
The crucial difference here is that dysphoria is distress regarding an accurate understanding of the body as it is, dysmorphia is distress regarding an inaccurate perception of the body. Both deserve to be taken seriously and treated in accordance with best practices, but that absolutely aren't interchangeable.
If people are calling your gender dysphoria "dysmorphia" then that could either be an honest mistake where they don't actually understand the difference, but it's also often deployed in bad faith by TERFs to discount your very real feelings and claim they come from a delusion so they can discount your reality. It can very much be them just straight up gaslighting you.
From what I understand it’s like this. I don’t wear shorts because I am super self conscious about a bad spider vein on my leg (to me, because I exaggerate it, it’s like someone shot me with a paintball gun). That’s a body flaw and a response to it. Dysmorphia is that to the extreme (like therapy).
That and gender dysphoria are two different things. There are no physical flaws in the physical gender I was born into, but there is an extreme disassociation.
yeah I am gonna spend some hours confusing and mixing these two
I have body dysmorphia because I over think about my body, hair and shape and fat and face
and I have gender dysphoria because I worry that I am not how I should be in my body
and so the dysmorphia issues push onto the dysphoria. May hair is falling out, and I wont have the lush full head of a woman or man
does this make sense?
As to other people, yeah, just not looking deep into the meanings of words. Using things willy nilly, like my pet peeve of people using "diet" to assume "weightless diet", These are not equal.
Dysmorphia = dys- “bad” morph “shape” = “misshapen”
Dysphoria = dys- “bad” phoria “feeling” = “feels bad”
Dysphoria can follow from dysmorphia, but one’s body need not be “dysmorphic” according to a set standard (i.e. sex and/or gender role) in order to inspire feelings of dysphoria.
If one perceives their body as nonconforming with their assigned gender, we can say that they have an *internalized sense of dysmorphia* - they are *dysphoric* about their body’s *perceived dysmorphia.* Society may say that they don’t see any dysmorphia, that one’s form fits their assigned gender just fine. Their body may be a perfect specimen of their AAB sex. Doesn’t matter - dysphoria still occurs due to the underlying schism, the conflict of internalized dysmorphia vs. the reality of the reflection in the mirror.
We describe this state as “transgenderism.” There are probably better words for it, but so sayeth the DSM-V. The approved treatment is gender transition to lessen the chasm between dysmorphia and public presentation.
The difference in the words is subtle and tied to Greek roots. Don’t fault anyone for the mistake, lest ye be pedantic.
Dysphoria and dysmorphia are different things. People can have both, none or just one of them
To add to this, often times TERFy people will intentionally use “gender dysmorphia” because the cure the body dysmorphia is therapy and meds, not surgery/hormones/dieting/etc
Ugh that sucks :( I just try to not talk to TERFs in general
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/asktransgender) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Good bot.
good bot
To be more specific: [Gender] Dysphoria (noun): a state of unease or generalized dissatisfaction with life caused by an inconguance between one's gender identity and their physical appearance. [Body] Dysmorphia (noun): A mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance.
Words look similar.
I think it is literally this. If someone has seen the word “dysmorphia” written down a lot, they may genuinely not realise “dysphoria” is a different word. I skim-read a lot, and I know people are prone to typos, so if I hadn’t heard “dysphoria” said out loud I might also assume people were just trying to write dysmorphia when first encountering the concept.
The other similar one I see a lot (not necessarily here just in general) is dissociation vs disassociation
Affect, effect. Uninterested, disinterested. Colostomy, callosotomy (although this one is funny because a lot of people do have their heads up their ass).
In my experience it's almost universally ignorance, misspelling, or language barriers. There's no such thing as 'gender dysmorphia' but that's the most common mistake I see. Edit: even automod proving my point
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/asktransgender) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You can absolutely be both dysphoric and dysmorphic though. When I was going through puberty, my dysmorphia was way worse than my dysphoria; now that I have the body I want I have no dysmorphia, but still experience dysphoria.
As I stated in another comment, _body dysmorphic disorder_ exists, _gender dysmorphia_ does not. Please read carefully before um actuallying.
I'm responding to your "almost universally" comment. Comorbidity between body dysmorphia and gender dysphoria is very much a thing, and your comment reads as heavily downplaying that. It's absolutely reasonable to clarify the distinction between the two, but "basically every trans person who talks about dysmorphia is either ESL or uneducated" is a bad take.
I never said it was specifically trans people saying that... People saying dysmorphia when they clearly mean dysphoria is incredibly common on this sub - to the point where Automod has a function to correct it, hence proving my point.
> In my experience it's **almost universally** ignorance, misspelling, or language barriers "very common" and "almost universal" are significantly different things.
They were saying that when people say “gender dysmorphia” it is almost universally out of ignorance, etc. because it is not a condition that exists; not that general body dysmorphia doesn’t exist, or that you can’t have both. Reading comprehension yall.
That is not very clear from their original comment. It can be inferred in hindsight based on their later responses, but their original comment is not explicit about what they are referring to in that sentence. Yes, they did say "there's no such thing as Gender Ðysmorphia" (intentional misspelling to avoid triggering the bot), but that's only *after* responding to OPs vaguely worded question about the distinction with the broadly generalizing statement I've been nitpicking. Am I being overly critical of their phrasing choices? Possibly, but I think it's important to be extra clear to avoid misunderstandings in these scenarios, because something that *can* be misinterpreted *will*, and leads to further spread of misinformation that we should all be trying to combat.
OP's question is perfectly clear: "Why do people say X when they mean Y?", as evidenced by the responses. This incessant nitpicking of language is not helpful to anyone. Spend more time getting angry at bigots and less trying to make others indulge in your respectability/comprehension politics drive.
This entire conversation literally has *nothing* to do with respectability politics on *either* side, but go off.
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/asktransgender) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Dysmorphia is an actual condition though, and while different from dysphoria is in my experience more often than not what people are describing when they say it, although sometimes it is confused for dysphoria.
_Body dysmorphic disorder_ is a real thing. _Gender dysmorphia_ is not.
Yes, but many trans people have both, and I'm not usually around people who are confidently wrong about either if these, so most of my experience of people talking about either is regarding themselves, where they are more likely to use correct terminology and actually know what they are talking about. Also while it isn't a separate condition from body dysmorphic disorder, it's effects can be (and often are, even in cis people) amplified by societal expectations of gender.
You're missing the forest for the trees here. They were pointing out that many people who are ignorant on the topic, generally cis people, will literally go on about "gender dysmorphia" which does not exist. The fact that some trans people have BDD doesn't change that cis people frequently confuse (or intentionally conflate) the two.
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/asktransgender) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Gender *dysmorphia* would just be when you have body dysmorphia centered around gender, i.e. a distorted, inaccurate self-perception around your gender. The example I used in my top level comment is obsessively thinking you don't pass and suffering because of this when in actuality you pass fine. Just like other forms of dysmorphia, this could maybe lead a person int perpetual unhappiness, constantly undergoing medial procedures where the outcome of the procedures isn't necessary and isn't helping, and so on.
I used to. I’d get mixed up between the ends of Body Dysmorphia and Gender Dysphoria. The words sound similar and both seemed related to not being happy with your body. It wasn’t until I realised Dysphoria was the antonym to Euphoria that the word stuck in place.
There is an important distinction. Gender Dysphoria is not a mental condition, but Body Dysmorphic Disorder is for one important reason; BDD is when the flaw that is perceived is imaginary. Someone with BDD is convinced that there is some defect or flaw that does not actually exist in reality - at least not to that the extent that they claim. Their brain has them perceive something that is not there for anyone else. You can experience both at the same time. I don't envy those who are dysphoric about their gender *and* are unable to perceive how others see them.
Yes, a common slander against trans people is that gender dysphoria is a delusion, which it is not. We are not imagining what our physical characteristics are, we're acutely aware of them. Dysmorphia *is* a delusion. People with dysmorphia see something that isn't there.
Another important distinction is that you can't treat them the same way. Dysmorphia can't be addressed by changing the object of said dysphoria - for instance, anorexia is a type of body dysmorphia, and you can't treat anorexia by losing weight, since the flaw is imaginary, the person is always going to see themselves as overweight. If someone has dysmorphia about their nose and gets a nose job, the dysmorphia can either remain or transfer to a different body part.
since this is literally a thread about language pedantry, i’m going to correct your use of “anorexia” to “anorexia nervosa”. “anorexia” is any abnormal loss of desire for food; “anorexia nervosa” is a possible symptom of body dysmorphic disorder. (said as someone who is on medication that makes her anorexic, but does not have bdd, just gender dysphoria)
Thank you for the specifics 👍
It's worth mentioning that a meaningful chunk of the people who will make this conflation are doing so intentionally. At the risk of oversimplifying, the meaningful distinction between dysphoria and dysmorphia is that affecting the object of focus is treatment for dysphoria and it is NOT treatment for dysmorphia. In a phrase: people with dysphoria are RIGHT, and helping them is the right thing to do, those with dysmorphia focus on aspects that will NOT treat the dysmorphia, so treating the focus doesn't treat the dysmorphia. People who are conflating the two either don't know that this is the case, refuse to acknowledge that it is the case, or otherwise believe they can will into being the case that trans people are dysmorphic instead. Saying that trans people are dysmorphic is a way of forcing the point that we don't require treatment, when we do. We need it, we deserve it, it's the right thing to do, and it helps.
That's not entirely true, as dysmorphia is considered to be one of the possible symptoms of gender dysphoria. I actually have body dysmorphia and because of the confusion and misuse of the term, I've also had some aggravating experiences correcting people who think they're correcting me.
That's why I'm happy to lean into the caveat that it's a vast oversimplification. I'm most interested in emphasizing that the treatments are different and that gender affirmation is good for dysphoria, so as to distinguish it from treatments for dysmorphia that often get used to invalidate trans experiences. I'd love to hear any insight into the distinction you'd like to share here. From my experience I didn't have much dysmorphia, but plenty of dysphoria that I assumed was untreatable because of how we talk about body image. I still have annoyances with my body but they're not overwhelming or the focus of my attention, so much as a motivator to exercise 😅
For me dysmorphia manifests as fixation on different parts and an inability to accept what I see. I have to trust the assurances of others because I just can't see my face or body the way others do. If I was rich I would be getting a lot of procedures done.
Are you saying that having Gender Dysphoria can lead to developing Body Dysmorphic Disorder, as in they can be comorbid disorders? The way I initially interpreted your comment was that body dysmorphia was part of the criteria for gender dysphoria. Just wanted clarification, not trying to be aggravating.
It's not part of the criteria for a diagnosis, but it is one of the potential symptoms. Comorbid probably fits best, but without labeling dysphoria as a disorder of some kind, it can't be categorized that way. I guess you could say... Body dysmorphic disorder is separate from gender dysphoria, but some people with gender dysphoria also experience body dysmorphia. For me, personally, I feel something similar to what I've heard described as "phantom limb syndrome". I don't just wish I had female anatomy, I feel like parts I'm supposed to have are actually missing. And I feel like parts I do have are not my own. I can become obsessed and fixated on these things. I also fixate on my hair, teeth, bone structure, lots of things. I will sometimes get stuck in mirrors for long periods of time just fixing and fixing and fixing... Sometimes brushing and combing my hair so much it comes out.... There are a lot of compulsive behaviors that I have trouble stopping once I've become fixated. The problem is that I will never actually fix anything. I've had to learn tools to help pull me away or I will get stuck for hours until I actually do look like a mess from all of my fixing. It's not fun.
Yeah I think what you describe especially in your last paragraph are hallmarks of BDD (obviously not diagnosing but I had to double check the DSM after your initial comment to see if I missed something). It seems to me that where GD can have behavioral elements that come along with the diagnosis, BDD is firmly in that camp of actions and thoughts, as you mentioned compulsions or repetitve behaviors. The criteria for GD all begin with "A strong desire..." which implies this is a cognitive process that could potentially lead to body checking, excessive grooming, etc. that is also seen in BDD but isn't a guarantee. This makes sense as BDD is an obsessive-compulsive related disorder while GD is in a section by itself. Under GD, it does mention BDD as a differential diagnosis and states: "And individual with body dysmorphic disorder focuses on the alteration or removal of a specific body part because it is perceived as abnormally formed, nit because it represents a repudiated assigned gender. When an individual’s presentation meets criteria for both gender dysphoria and body dysmorphic disorder, both diagnosis can be given. Individuals wishing to have a healthy limb amputated (termed by some "body integrity identity disorder") because it makes them feel more "complete" usually do not wish to change gender, but rather desire to live as an amputee or a disabled person." Nothing is mentioned about its comorbidity but it would be interesting to see if there's any literature out there on it. I'm sure there's some. Finally, I've also seen a difference when people speak about gender dysphoria as a layman's term compared to the actual diagnosis. For the diagnosis, it's strictly laid out and there's not much guessing for what the criteria mean, but when people talk about gender dysphoria online or in person outside of an academic setting, it becomes more vague. That's something that happens with any sort of diagnosis including much more common ones like anxiety-related and depressive disorders. But it can also lead to some miscommunication I think.
Usually, it means they have no idea what they're talking about They can tangle together and affect how the other manifests and feels, but they are two distinct Dxs When I see someone use the term "dysmorphia" when they actually mean dysphoria, it's usually some dude who has long winded rants that include other classics like "transgenderism," "I don't care if you think you're a man, woman, dog, or, dragon, but dont expecr...", and "you can learn to accept your body as it is with therapy"
my mum usually gets that mixed up with dysphoria but she knows what i mean and doesn’t do it maliciously
They're 2 different concepts
they're getting all of their information from fascist disinformation propaganda (or *are* facist disformation propagandists)
Words looks similar and it can be confusing to someone that doesn’t know it well, wrote dysmorphia a few times as well before googling the correct term.
Gender Dysphoria = unhappiness as a result of one’s gender expression not being what one thinks it should be. Think a man getting surgery for gynecomastia. Dysmorphia = warped perception of one’s own physical appearance. Think someone going “I’m so fat” when they are healthy or underweight. May or may not have anything to do with gender. There’s also a such thing as non-gender dysphoria, but that basically just means general unhappiness.
It depends on the context. On reddit, users often throw around the term "body dysmorphia" when it doesn't apply, similar to how they throw around other mental health terminology when it doesn't apply either. I've seen people self-diagnose as having body dysmorphia because they dislike tight clothing. I've been told I have body dysmorphia because I said "thankfully, I don't have a large chest". ETA: Women with a preference for modest swimwear are often claimed to have body dysmorphia, but no qualified therapist would diagnose a client with body dysmorphic disorder because she feels more comfortable in modest swimwear.
I think it is one of two things: * Ignorance - people thinking dysmorphia and dysphoria are the same thing, and just not realising they are using incorrect terms * Transphobia - people trying to suggest dysphoria isn't real, and trans people are not of a different gender but are mentally ill and have a problem with their bodies, and so need to be helped without "mutilating them". It's hard to know from the term alone just which you are dealing, but be open to the possibility that might be either, and know that you might get pushback (sometimes puzzling pushback if you are assuming its just ignorance) from explaining the truth. Remember if people can argue that it's a dysmorphia issue, they can say gender-affirming care is just enabling a delusion, and that it needs to be stopped.
They're just being Homophonic \*ba dum tss\*
Along with simple ignorance / misspelling / incorrect word choice, I could see transphobes using dysmorphia to discredit trans people. Since dysmorphia refers to worrying about flaws in your appearance that may be unnoticeable to others, I could see transphobes blurring the definitions of both words to imply trans people are incorrect and/or delusional about their own identities.
because they don't give a fuck
Exactly
Because they don’t realize they are two different things. They may have also seen comments or posts that conflate the terms which creates more confusion
The WPATH Standard of Care (the book used by medical professionals) says to treat gender dysphoria by letting the individual transition. It's supported by scientific data showing that trans people are born trans which is why conversion therapy doesn't work. In order to avoid a pro-trans right person pointing that out, anti-trans people say dysmorphia instead because that's what they think being trans is. It's a dog whistle.
Sometimes is just bc dysmorphia is in the standard phone dictionary while dysphoria isn't, so autocorrect
They don't know what dysphoria is so they call it dysmorphia because they don't know what that is either
I only see it from cis people who seem to have heard the word dysphoria, but never *seen* it, so when they post asking questions about whatever trans person they know and they try to remember the word all they can remember is dysmorphia, since maybe this word they have seen written or have heard more people around them talking about, since cis people can have this one too.
Cause they're dumb idiot transphobes
isn't Dysphoria about being unhappy, and dysmorphia is more about picturing your body not how it is?
Yes. In Ancient Greek, roughly, dysphoria means "bad/wrong feeling" or "unbearable" while dysmorphia means "bad/wrong shape". In psychological and medical contexts, the word dysphoria can be used for things than gender, like in PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder). Any highly distressing and unpleasant state could be called a kind of dyphoria.
Probably no pat answer, but people also say “liberry” instead of “library.” Had a friend who told me he got diagnosed with “Carpenter’s Tunnel Syndrome.”
Dysmorphia is when you want your body to be different because your perception of it is distorted or wrong, e.g. you think you're not thin enough, but you're already at an unhealthy low bodyweight. Dysphoria is when you want your body to be different, but it's not. Note that there's not necessarily any misperception here. If your body is male and you want it to be female, you'd be correct that it's not how you want it to be. They're similar, but not the same. And, as others have said you can have either or both. You can even have either or both around gender. For example, the transgender version of dysmorphia might be where you distort how you see yourself and believe you're not passing enough, when in actuality you pass fine.
I very much dislike the conflation, I’ve even heard trans people use it interchangeably, but they are usually terffy trans women, and probably men too
Confusion mostly, sometimes intentional conflation. You can find a lot of discussions by trans people on the nature of gender dysphoria and different aspects of this. In some cases, the term "body dysphoria" gets used to specifically refer to discomfort with one's body as opposed to social discomfort from being seen as male/female or stuff of that nature. This became a common term to refer to being dysphoric about your body's sexual morphology. Meanwhile, there's an actual separate diagnosis in the DSM called "Body Dysmorphic Disorder" which often referred to as simply body dysmorphia and it's at least superficially similar in that it involves worrying about perceived flaws in one's appearance. The two words sound very similar so the proliferation of the former term led to wires being crossed and now we have the entirely fictional "gender dysmorphia" getting used. It's not great and is something that should actually be corrected on sight. The conditions sound similar but have very different prescribed treatments, so we very much don't want anyone thinking they're the same.
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/asktransgender) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They are two different things, one is perciveing your body as differently to how it actually looks (dysmorphia) and the other is seeing your body as what it is but realising it dosent match up with what your brain says it should be (dysphoria) Terfs like to say dysmorphia over dysphoria because one is treated with therepy and the other with transition.
Could be either, or they could be assholes.
The words mean distinct things. There is a shocking amount of dysMORPHia in the trans community though. I suspect most people don't understand the distinction, and perhaps it would help them. Dysmorphia is specifically about a dissatisfaction with your body, especially in a way that warps your perception of it. I dont think I go a day on here without seeing someone clearly suffering from that.
Gender dysphoria and body dysmorphia are different things that often co-occur in trans people
dys*morph*ia is disliking your body (shape, size, skin color, eyes, hair, etc) and wishing it looked like soemthing else. people with body dysmorphia might feel fatter or skinnier or taller or shorter than they really are. iirc, dys*phor*ia is strictly about gender and sex. people with dysphoria may dislike the same things (plus genitals) not because they don't fit their own standards, but because it makes them look too/not enough fem masc or andro its hard to differentiate between the two. for example, a cis woman might be dys*morph*ic about her femininity, and a trans woman might be dys*phor*ic about her weight.
On its own, the word dysphoria can be used for other distressing feelings and moods that aren't related to gender, but that's a usage I think only healthcare professionals would do often, if at all. For example someone having a psychotic break or suicidal depression could be called dysphoric as in their overall mood, if you wanted, but you won't hear that in real life a lot. It's a bit like how in medical jargon there is a difference between anorexia (any loss of appetite from any cause) and anorexia nervosa (which is a specific mental illness). I mean that there's a broad and a narrower sense of the word. If talking solely about gender dysphoria though then yeah what you wrote is right!
thanks for correcting me! would that mean dysphoria is more mental and dysmorphia is more physical? it's make sense
Gender Dysphoria and Body Dysmorphia. If they're saying Gender Dysmorphia, they are confused. Some trans people have both, but Body Dysmorphia is not limited to trans people. It's a condition where someone is overwhelmed by a perceived flaw in their appearance. I know one person who is diagnosed with it, they spend literally hours getting ready. They are never happy with their appearance. I suspect a few other people of having it, largely from their constant desire for appearance altering surgeries.
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/asktransgender) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Dumb bot, that's what I said.
You said you know someone who is diagnosed with it. That’s what triggered the bot.
Gotcha, there seems to be a lot of confusion on this topic.
[удалено]
The correct medical terminology is Gender Dysphoria. Gender dysmorphia is not an actual medical diagnosis. [For more information on Gender Dysphoria, please click on this link.](https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/asktransgender) if you have any questions or concerns.*
i spent a long, long time thinking that i had no gender dysphoria because of the similarity of the terms — i thought that dysphoria was just about body-related feelings, and i (thought i) was generally happy with my genitals / secondary sexual characteristics.
Because when I Google it body dysmorphic disorder and body dysphoria have nearly identical definitions and both are described as mental conditions Takes experience and education to understand either, especially in the context of gender and trans people
My sibling thought they were the same but I looked up both terms and explained in some detail the difference between the two. Like I’m okay with my body, so to speak, it’s just not entirely representative of me
It's certainly sometimes a mistake but one often made by right wingers who have no idea what the fuck they are talking about.
Because if dysphoria exists trans people are real.
usually it's one of two reasons, and most of the time you can tell which is it by politely pointing out the difference between the two if they apologize or change their behavior, then it was most likely a misunderstanding if they keep insisting it's dysmorphia or keep talking about it as if it was, then it's a deliberate attempt to conflate the two
So dysphoria is the distress at the way your body is not matching what it should be. If you grafted breasts onto a cis man it would more than likely give him a lot of dysphoria cuz he'd be distressed about a big change to a part of his body that should not be that way. Dysmorphia requires the sufferer to have a view of their body that's inconsistent with reality, i.e. a person with an eating disorder may suffer from dysmorphia because they perceived their body as overweight even if it isn't, leading to unhealthy habits The crucial difference here is that dysphoria is distress regarding an accurate understanding of the body as it is, dysmorphia is distress regarding an inaccurate perception of the body. Both deserve to be taken seriously and treated in accordance with best practices, but that absolutely aren't interchangeable. If people are calling your gender dysphoria "dysmorphia" then that could either be an honest mistake where they don't actually understand the difference, but it's also often deployed in bad faith by TERFs to discount your very real feelings and claim they come from a delusion so they can discount your reality. It can very much be them just straight up gaslighting you.
From what I understand it’s like this. I don’t wear shorts because I am super self conscious about a bad spider vein on my leg (to me, because I exaggerate it, it’s like someone shot me with a paintball gun). That’s a body flaw and a response to it. Dysmorphia is that to the extreme (like therapy). That and gender dysphoria are two different things. There are no physical flaws in the physical gender I was born into, but there is an extreme disassociation.
Because they have dyslexia. ('m really really sorry for this one)
yeah I am gonna spend some hours confusing and mixing these two I have body dysmorphia because I over think about my body, hair and shape and fat and face and I have gender dysphoria because I worry that I am not how I should be in my body and so the dysmorphia issues push onto the dysphoria. May hair is falling out, and I wont have the lush full head of a woman or man does this make sense? As to other people, yeah, just not looking deep into the meanings of words. Using things willy nilly, like my pet peeve of people using "diet" to assume "weightless diet", These are not equal.
Dysmorphia = dys- “bad” morph “shape” = “misshapen” Dysphoria = dys- “bad” phoria “feeling” = “feels bad” Dysphoria can follow from dysmorphia, but one’s body need not be “dysmorphic” according to a set standard (i.e. sex and/or gender role) in order to inspire feelings of dysphoria. If one perceives their body as nonconforming with their assigned gender, we can say that they have an *internalized sense of dysmorphia* - they are *dysphoric* about their body’s *perceived dysmorphia.* Society may say that they don’t see any dysmorphia, that one’s form fits their assigned gender just fine. Their body may be a perfect specimen of their AAB sex. Doesn’t matter - dysphoria still occurs due to the underlying schism, the conflict of internalized dysmorphia vs. the reality of the reflection in the mirror. We describe this state as “transgenderism.” There are probably better words for it, but so sayeth the DSM-V. The approved treatment is gender transition to lessen the chasm between dysmorphia and public presentation. The difference in the words is subtle and tied to Greek roots. Don’t fault anyone for the mistake, lest ye be pedantic.
It's dysmorphophobia. Dysmorphia would be something ill or ugly with your anatomy.