From Fragmentation to Fluidity: A Postmodern Solution to a Case of Gender Identity Disorder

This article includes a clinical case study and a theoretical discussion of the origins, meanings, and resolution of Adult Gender Identity Disorder. We integrate psychoanalytic theory, postmodern social constructivism, and contemporary biopsychosocial models of Gender Identity Disorder (GID). The case history describes the clinical presentation, developmental history, and five-year course of treatment of a gender identity disordered genetic male (E) in his/her late twenties. E's complex clinical presentation is discussed in the context of psychoanalytic theory, postmodern social constructivism, and current biopsychosocial models of GID. E initially presented with both a fragmented sense of self and a fragmented gender identity. We illustrate how, through the course of therapy, this patient developed both a more cohesive sense of self and a more unitary gender identity, accompanied by a growing capacity to tolerate both male and female aspects of self. This progression from fragmentation to fluidity

is what we refer to in the title as a postmodern solution to gender identity confusion.