45 Gender Identity Disorder
Name: Brandon Teena (Teena Ray Brandon)
Source: Boys Don’t Cry (movie, 1999)
Background Information
Brandon Teena is an adolescent,Caucasian female who grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. Teena prefers to live her life as a male. She does not currently appear to have a stable and persistent means of income or employment. Teena steals because of her low social economic status and non effort to obtain an occupation. Her delinquent activity has led her to attain a juvenile record before she has reached the age of 21. Her father died before she was born so there is absent fathering in her life from the beginning of her years. She lives with her cousin from time to time in a trailer home, yet her cousin does not support the trouble she gets into with the locals and the law. Her cousin and presumably other family members do not except her transgender choice to act as a male either. Teena mainly lives out of her travel bag with no stable, consistent place to call home. There doesn’t seem to be any health concerns. There is also no evidence that there is any family mental history as well. Brandon Teena, who‘s legal name is Teena Brandon, has always looked like a girl, yet reported that she had always felt as guy. Her past does not show any previous drug or alcoholic abuse; however, recently she has been introduced to a selected few of drugs, such as marijuana, with a group of new friends in Falls City, Nebraska. Teena’s weakness appears to be females. Her goal is to have a surgical procedure to change her female sex characteristics.
Description of the Problem
Teena currently displays symptoms that indicate that she does indeed reject her identity as being a female physically. She seems to have emotional symptoms, especially when someone may mention that she is a girl and not a boy. Her cousin continued to tell her that she was a girl, that she needs to leave the girls alone, and that she needs to accept the fact that she is a lesbian. She denies having sexual attributes such as a having a menstruation and tries to hide all of her sexual characteristics from others. She will claim to be a hermaphrodite before she claims to be a female.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis for Teena Brandon that seems to fit appropriately is Gender Identity Disorder in Adolescents or Adults (302.85).
A. In adolescents and adults, the disturbance is manifested by symptoms such as a stated desire to be the opposite sex, frequent dressing as the opposite sex, desire to live or be treated as the opposite sex, or the conviction that he or she has the typical feelings and reactions of the opposite sex.
Teena cross dressed to look like a normal guy her age would as well. She was also very attractive to girls.
B. Persistent discomfort with his or her sex or sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of their sex. In adolescents and adults, the disturbance is manifested by symptoms such as preoccupation with getting rid of primary and secondary sex characteristic