Gambling Disorder
Gambling disorder is a mental condition characterized by the inability to resist the impulse to gamble. The urges persist even when mental, social, and financial consequences arise as a result of the impulsive gambling. Many people with gambling disorder feel as though they have no control over their habits, and will put themselves and their loved ones at risk to satiate their addiction. The condition disproportionately affects young males over any other demographic, but anyone can be susceptible to developing it.
Gambling is defined as any activity in which a risk is taken to achieve a potentially greater reward. Because of this, gambling disorder doesn’t just manifest in casinos. Technological advancements and recent legislation have made it easier for people to access gambling institutions portably through their phones. The culmination of these factors is online gambling websites. These websites use real money, avoid the regional gambling laws which previously held casinos in check, and can be accessed on the go during any moment of boredom. This can cause a dangerous feedback loop that has the capacity to spiral into a full-blown addiction.
Gamma-Hydroxybutyric (GHB)
GHB, or Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate is an odorless and colorless central nervous system depressant. It is commonly known as the “date rape drug” due to its ability to sedate, increase euphoria, and cause amnesia in those who take it. Given that it has no odor or color, it could be covertly inserted into alcoholic beverages during parties to facilitate sexual assault. GHB abuse is a major issue in college party and nightclub culture, and while legistlation has restricted the methods by which the drug can be obtained, it’s still wise to proceed with caution when drinking with others.
GHB is normally prescribed to treat narcolepsy, a sleep-related illness. It can also be abused intentionally for its supposed muscle gain and fat loss effects, but this is not an officially prescribed use and can lead to overdose. Side effects of GHB overuse include nausea, vomiting, headaches, confusion, and even amnesia. GHB can also become addictive after bouts of repeated use.
Gaslighting
Gaslighting is the process of emotionally manipulating someone into questioning their sanity, perception, or reality. This manipulation can cause victims to feel confused or disoriented as they begin to lose their sense of reality. The term originated in the 1938 play “Gas Light”, which follows a husband who gradually manipulates his wife into doubting her perception of reality. While the word “gaslighting” was never used in the play itself, it has since been adopted as the term for the phenomenon.
Perpetrators of gaslighting will often attempt to isolate their victims from their support systems in order to prevent them from receiving an untainted perspective. The gaslighting party will often use those feelings of isolation to make their victims dependent on them. This dependency makes it difficult for victims of gaslighting to escape its self-perpetuating cycle of abuse.
Gay
Gay is a word with multiple meanings. Traditionally, it has been used as a synonym for homosexual; someone who is attracted to people of the same gender. More recently, it has been used by people in queer communities as an umbrella term for anyone who identifies as LGBTQIA+. This means that the meaning of the word “gay” changes depending on context, and someone who describes themselves as such. It also used to mean “happy” or “energetic” but this meaning is antiquated.
Up until 1987, homosexuality was classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders as a mental disorder, carrying a heavy stigma that persists even today. However, psychologists and social rights activists alike fought to remove homosexuality from the DSM and destigmatize it, leading to the legalization of gay marriage and other social advancements for LGBTQIA+ people all over the U.S.
Gender
Gender is an aggregation of socially constructed roles implicitly assigned to specific sexes. While often used interchangeably, sex and gender are different concepts. Sex refers to physical characteristics at birth while gender is more of an identification with those characteristics. Statistically, most people’s gender identity is aligned with their assigned sex at birth, but some find that the gender they identify as is different from their biological sex.
The way people choose to behave in relation to their gender identity is called gender expression. Anything, ranging from the clothes people wear to the music they choose to listen to, can be considered a form of gender expression. For some, forms of gender expression that align with their gender identity can cause feelings of joy known as gender euphoria. The opposite of this is gender dysphoria, which is common among transgender and nonbinary people when something about their gender expression conflicts with their identity.
Gender Affirming Surgery
Gender-affirming surgery includes any surgeries performed for the sake of altering someone’s sex characteristics to match their gender identity. Transgender and nonbinary get gender-affirming surgery to reduce dysphoria, or feelings of discomfort that stem from having one’s physical traits differ from their gender identity. The two main types of gender affirmation surgeries are top and bottom surgery. These surgeries both refer to changing the structure of certain body parts to match one’s gender identity; top surgery for the chest and torso and bottom surgery for the genitalia.
Surgery is not required to transition but many find it helpful in mitigating dysphoria and finding comfort in their own bodies. For those who prefer non-invasive procedures, there are many non-surgical options for receiving gender-affirming care. These include hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which gradually changes the body to become closer to one’s gender identity through the use of hormones, and voice therapy, or vocal training to make someone sound conventionally masculine, feminine, or otherwise.
Gender Binary
The gender binary is the classification of gender into two distinct, opposite forms of masculine and feminine, whether by social system or cultural belief. More implicitly, the gender binary reinforces socially accepted ways of being “masculine” or “feminine” and discourages people who express themselves outside of those roles. In most Western cultures, the gender binary shows its influence in everyday life, like public bathrooms categorized by men and women or advertisements targeting a particular gender.
In response to the rigidity of the gender binary, a new form of viewing the societal implications of gender known as the “gender continuum” emerged. The core principle of the gender continuum is that, instead of a binary system with either men or women, gender is a spectrum between masculinity and femininity that most people fall somewhere between. This system proves to be more inclusive for transgender and nonbinary people who felt excluded by the rigid margins of the gender binary.
Gender Dysphoria
Gender dysphoria is characterized by feelings of distress, unhappiness, or anxiety that people may feel when their gender identity does not match their assigned sex at birth. Dysphoria affects everyone in different ways, with some transgender people avoiding it entirely. Its effects can be felt as early as childhood, long before the affected person comes out as transgender or nonbinary.
Common symptoms of dysphoria include anxiety, self-harm, and negative self-thought. Since these symptoms are very similar to those of a mood disorder like depression or general anxiety disorder, many people with dysphoria get prescribed treatment for those disorders instead. Treatment for gender dysphoria includes counseling or talk therapy, hormone replacement therapy, and other types of gender-affirming care.
Gender Fluid
Someone who is genderfluid does not have a fixed gender identity, which means that their gender identity may shift between male, female, both, or neither. Genderfluid people experience this fluidity in different ways, and the time periods in which they identify as a certain gender vary depending on the person. Shifts in gender identity may occur over hours or days for some, or weeks, months, or even years for others.
Being genderfluid is not the same thing as being nonbinary. Instead of the fluid, ever-shifting gender identity of genderfluidity, nonbinary people experience a single, constant gender identity – just one that isn’t represented by the gender binary of male and female. It is possible to identify as both genderfluid and nonbinary; it would just mean that the genderfluid individual is currently identifying or has at some point identified as nonbinary, and that it is subject to change.
Gender Norms
Gender norms are expectations on how to behave that are placed on members of a society based on their gender. Assumptions based solely off of gender norms are referred to as gender stereotypes. Some common gender stereotypes include men being aggressive, boisterous, or rugged and women being delicate, nurturing, or emotional. These stereotypes can lead to gender inequality due to preconceived notions of a certain gender’s work ethic, intelligence, physical ability, etc.
Social gender norms have no basis in biology; every culture has its own set of gender norms and many of them change over time. An example of this is the set of colors associated with gender in the West. In the early 20th century, when manufacturers were first pushing the concept of gendered colors in children’s clothing, the general consensus was that pink was for boys and blue was for girls. However, over the next couple of decades, the culture gradually shifted to accepting pink as a color for women and blue for men. The cultural trends were able to shift so drastically because they depended solely on widespread cultural acceptance. It only took a few pink-clad celebrity women like Mamie Eisenhower and Kay Thompson to alter the cultural perception of the color pink for the next century.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a mental health condition characterized by persistent anxiety, or extreme nervousness about different aspects of one’s life. Experiencing anxiety is a normal response to dealing with stress or uncertainty, but for GAD, the feelings of anxiety occur more frequently and intensely. Bouts of anxiety may be a result of valid stressors, like the loss of a job or a health issue, they tend to persist after the upsetting situation has passed.
Generalized anxiety disorder may cause physical effects as well. Some symptoms include insomnia, nausea, headaches, and muscle aches. The disorder also affects people differently depending on certain risk factors, like gender and medical history. Specifically, someone is more likely to develop generalized anxiety disorder if they are female and/or have other medical conditions, like depression or bipolar disorder. Substance use can also exasperate the effects of anxiety attacks.