Gender dysphoria and incongruence - neurophysiological diversity and genetic factors / Volume 25 (Yearbook 2024) / Issues / Current Problems of Psychiatry

Gender dysphoria and incongruence - neurophysiological diversity and genetic factors

REVIEW PAPER

Curr Probl Psychiatry Vol. 25 (2024), 248-254

10.12923/2353-8627/2024-0023

Katarzyna Nowak¹ , Piotr Stępień² , Aleksandra Marczak³ ,
Izabela Halczuk⁴ , Bartłomiej Stachura⁴ , Justyna Górska⁵ ,
Samanta Gawryszczak⁵ , Anna Gliwa⁶ , Iwona Halczuk⁷

¹Student Research Group at the I Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Early Intervention, Medical University of Lublin, Poland
²Doctoral School, Medical University of Lublin, Poland
³5 Military Clinical Hospital with Polyclinic SPZOZ, Kraków, Poland
⁴University Clinical Hospital No. 4 in Lublin, Poland
⁵Provincial Specialist Hospital named after Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński Independent Public Health Care Center in Lublin, Poland
⁶1^st Military Clinical Hospital with Polyclinic Independent Public Health Care Center in Lublin, Poland
⁷Department of Neurology, Medical University of Lublin, Poland

Full Text

Abstract

Introduction: Transgender people may experience gender dysphoria, which is defined as the distress and impairment associated with a person's perception of a marked incongruity between their gender identification and their sex assigned at
birth. The aim of the study is to understand the neurophysiological diversity of people with and without dysphoria, as well as to assess the genetic, endocrine and biological basis of the development of dysphoria.

Material and methods: A review of the available literature was performed by searching the Google Scholar and PubMed databases using the keywords: dysphoria, gender incongruity, neurophysiology, neurophysiological diversity and dysphoria, gender dysphoria and genetics. This publication is based on a literature review covering the years 2015 - 2023. Works published before 2015 were excluded from the analysis. The SANRA scale was used to maintain the high quality of the narrative review.

Results: Gender dysphoria has a polygenic basis, involving interactions between various genes and their polymorphisms. Endocrine factors are also important, so the most complete picture of the neurophysiological basis of gender dysphoria can be obtained by adding brain imaging tests and measurements of sex hormone concentrations to genetic tests.

Conclusions: Determining what biological factors contribute to gender dysphoria may have a positive impact on the mental health of transgender people. Moreover, this knowledge can be used to improve the quality of diagnosis and treatment of these people. Therefore, there is a clinical need to conduct further research in this field.

Keywords: genetics, neurophysiology, gender dysphoria, gender incongruity

Streszczenie

Wstęp: Osoby transpłciowe mogą doświadczać dysforii płciowej, która jest definiowana jako niepokój związany z postrzeganiem przez osobę wyraźnej niezgodności między jej identyfikacją płciową, a płcią przypisaną jej przy urodzeniu. Celem badania jest zrozumienie neurofizjologicznej różnorodności osób z dysforią i bez dysforii, a także ocena genetycznych, endokrynologicznych i biologicznych podstaw rozwoju dysforii.

Materiał i metody: Przeprowadzono przegląd dostępnej literatury, przeszukując bazy danych Google Scholar i PubMed przy użyciu słów kluczowych: dysforia, niezgodność płciowa, neurofizjologia, różnorodność neurofizjologiczna i dysforia,
dysforia płciowa i genetyka. Niniejsza publikacja opiera się na przeglądzie literatury obejmującym lata 2015–2023. Prace opublikowane przed 2015 rokiem zostały wyłączone z analizy. Wyjątek zrobiono w przypadku kilku starszych prac, ze względu na ograniczoną liczbę podobnych badań w ostatnich latach. Skala SANRA została użyta w celu utrzymania wysokiej jakości przeglądu narracyjnego.

Dyskusja: Dysforia płciowa ma podłoże poligenetyczne, obejmujące interakcje między różnymi genami i ich polimorfizmami. Ważne są również czynniki endokrynologiczne, dlatego najpełniejszy obraz neurofizjologicznych podstaw dysforii płciowej można uzyskać, dodając do testów genetycznych badania obrazowe mózgu i pomiary stężeń hormonów płciowych.

Wnioski: Określenie, jakie czynniki biologiczne przyczyniają się do dysforii płciowej, może mieć pozytywny wpływ na zdrowie psychiczne osób transpłciowych. Ponadto wiedza ta może być wykorzystana do poprawy jakości diagnozy i leczenia tych osób. Dlatego istnieje kliniczna potrzeba prowadzenia dalszych badań w tej dziedzinie.

Słowa kluczowe: genetyka, neurofizjologia, dysforia płciowa, niezgodność płci

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