MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES IN BRAIN OF PATIENTS WITH TRANSSEXUALITY AND OTHER PROBLEMS IN GENDER IDENTITY AND DISTURBANCES IN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHIATRIC ILNESSES

Transsexuality is characterized by a strong conviction of having been born in the wrong body and is also considered to be the extreme end of the spectrum of gender identity disorders characterized by a pursuit of sex reassignment surgery ( Cohen-Kettenis et al., 1999). The prevalence of transsexuality is 1:10,000 for male-to-female transsexuals and 1:30,000 for female-to-male transsexuals ( Swaab D, 2007). Gender identity issues occure very early in the developing. Mothers report that, as soon as their sons learned to talk, they insisted on wearing women clothes, buing and playing with girl toys only and played with girl only. Not all children with gender issues eventually become transsexual. Only in 23% of the cases does a childhood gender problem lead to transsexuality in adulthood ( Swaab D, 2007). Where the stria terminalis connects to the hypothalamus is known as the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST or BNST). The stria terminalis, especially the bed nucleus, has been shown to have significant differences in size and density between men and women, especially the central subdivision of the BST, known as the BSTc. It is 44 percent larger in men than in women. Studies post mortem which are done on the brains transsexuals, have shown the BSTc to be in the same size range as the gender the person felt they were, instead of matching the sex of the genitalia. Animal model is irreplaceable in these cases of medical scientific researches